On the evening of Friday the 16th of August 2024, an Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 was struck by a ground services vehicle at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines.
The Air Niugini aircraft had just arrived from Port Moresby with no passengers or crew aboard the aircraft when the incident occurred. The damage is in the lower rear section of the fuselage, near the cargo door.
The engineering team at Air Niugini is now working with the maintenance teams in Manila and Boeing to assess the damage, approve the repair plan with Boeing and carry out the repair activity.
Air Niugini is also in communication with the ground services provider in Manila to understand how the incident occurred and what steps are being taken to ensure that it is not repeated and with that, a full investigation is being performed with a report and recommendations to follow.
In addition, airport airside areas are dangerous given the nature of the activity being undertaken with the areas that are heavily regulated. Everyone operating equipment around aircraft and airports is trained, experienced and regularly certified.
The ground services handler used by Air Niugini also provide services to major airlines including Cathay Pacific, China Southern, Etihad Airways, Japan Airlines and Philippine Airlines who have been in operation for over fifty years.
Chief Executive Officer of Air Niugini, Gary Seddon stated that, ensuring operational safety is ANG’s foremost concern and with that, expressed how grateful he is that they were no injuries as a result of this occurrence, however, was upset that one of their aircraft was damaged.
“I await the findings from the inquiry being conducted by my team in collaboration with the Ground Handler, and I anticipate our aircraft’s return to operation after the necessary repairs.”