A Qatar Airways Boeing 777 Freighter was damaged by a ground vehicle at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport yesterday. The widebody was hit while a loader was driving in front of the plane's lower deck aft.

Investigation opened

According to Luchtvaart Nieuws, there are no reported injuries, but an investigation has been launched to find out how the incident occurred. The aircraft is not expected to return to the skies anytime soon as the damage is reported to be significant.

Photo: Jaromir Chalabala/Shutterstock

Registration A7-BFV, the twinjet involved, had flown in from Panama City on Wednesday, performing flight QR8156. It had also hopped to the likes of Quito, Sao Paulo, Luxembourg, Hanoi, Frankfurt, Oslo, Liege, and Nairobi over the last week. Yet, its world tour has come to a halt, with its scheduled hop to Doha yesterday canceled.

More on the aircraft

The damage to the fuselage occurred after the ground vehicle was being positioned to unload cargo. As per data provided by ch-aviation.com, A7-BFV is just three years old and arrived at the airline's fleet in December 2020. It was one of three 777F deliveries conducted on the same day.

Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker shared the following about the delivery:

“With the arrival of these new freighters, we are injecting much needed capacity in the market helping support global supply chains at a critical time during the pandemic… With our investments in innovation and fleet, we are able to fulfil our customers’ logistical requirements and support the continuity of global trade.”

Photo: Markus Mainka/Shutterstock

Holding MSN 66340, A7-BFV is part of a fleet of 26 777-200Fs at Qatar Airways’ facilities. It is also joined by nine 777-200LRs and 57 777-300ERs.

Industry woes

This isn't the first report of a ground vehicle colliding with aircraft in 2023. In January alone, there was a series of incidents reported across the globe.

For instance, a Transavia Boeing 737-800 was damaged by a vehicle with an inactive handbrake. The incident saw the car become stuck under the fuselage. Also, Nigerian handling employees were suspended following an alleged vehicle collision with an Air Peace Airubus A320. The event occurred at Lagos Airport.

Moreover, January saw an ANA Cargo 767 sustain damage after it collided with a ground vehicle. Windy and icy conditions were reportedly involved in the matter.

Simple Flying reached out to Qatar Airways for comment on this report. We will update the article with any further announcements from the airline. Nonetheless, we can expect that the carrier would be keen to hear the results of the investigation and get its aircraft safely in the air as soon as possible.

What are your thoughts about this Qatar Airways Boeing 777 being damaged by ground vehicles at Amsterdam Schiphol? What do you make of the overall incident? Let us know what you think of the situation in the comment section.

Sources: ch-aviation.com; Luchtvaart Nieuws