A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350-1000 has been damaged while parked on a stand at New York-JFK Airport. The aircraft was due to return to London-Heathrow Airport (LHR) on the evening of April 15, 2024, but the return flight (VS26) was canceled following the incident.
According to Virgin Atlantic, the incident involved a car belonging to catering company Gate Gourmet that “rolled into” the engine cowling of the stationary aircraft. The airline confirmed that no passengers were on board at the time.
Images published online show a white Gate Gourmet-branded vehicle with its bonnet wedged under the left engine of the aircraft as engineers assess the damage.
“Today’s VS26 from New York JFK to London Heathrow has been canceled following an incident at the gate at JFK involving the engine cowling of a stationary Virgin Atlantic aircraft and a catering service provider’s car that rolled into it,” the airline confirmed in a statement. We can confirm that no customers were on board the aircraft during this time.”
The extent of the damage to the engine cowling is currently unknown. Virgin Atlantic has said it will be investigating the incident but has not yet announced when a report will be published.
The aircraft involved, G-VDOT – named ‘Ruby Slipper’ – is seven years old, having been delivered to Virgin Atlantic in September 2020. The aircraft had just operated flight VS25 from Heathrow to New York when the incident occurred. The aircraft left Heathrow at 20:23 on April 14, 2024, arriving at JFK at 22:27 local time later that evening.
The aircraft seats 335 passengers in a three-class configuration (44 in business class, 56 in premium economy, and 235 in economy). According to the aviation tracking website Flightradar24, the aircraft involved remains on the ground at JFK Airport awaiting repairs at the time of writing.
The incident is the second such event involving a Virgin Atlantic aircraft in as many weeks. On April 6, 2024, a company Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner came into contact with a British Airways Airbus A350-1000 as the Virgin plane, registered G-VDIA, was being towed from the gate to another location within Terminal 3 at London-Heathrow Airport.
The Virgin Dreamliner’s left-hand wing tip hit the right-hand horizontal stabilizer of the parked British Airways Airbus A350-1000, registered G-XWBC, as it was being prepared to perform a scheduled passenger flight to Accra Kotoka International Airport (ACC) in Ghana. According to Flightradar24, neither G-VDIA nor G-XWBC has flown since the incident.