ECUADOR: Iberia A340-600 Damaged In Quito Hard Landing

Iberia has retrieved an Airbus A340-600 damaged in a hard landing at Quito, but has yet to determine when the aircraft will re-enter airline service.

The aircraft touched down hard on Quito’s runway 18, in good weather, following a service from Madrid on 11 August.

Its crew belatedly aborted the landing, executing a go-around before making a second approach.

Video footage purportedly capturing the landing shows the nine-year old aircraft (EC-LEU) apparently bouncing after the hard contact before climbing away.

Iberia says the aircraft has been returned to Madrid. It flew back from Quito on 27 August.

We don’t know yet when it can go back to operations, the airline adds.

French investigation authority BEA, citing Ecuadorian counterparts, says the aircraft suffered a tyre burst on its central main landing-gear bogie.

The A340-600’s centre bogie is fitted with four wheels. BEA says the landing affected tyre 10.

After the aircraft parked, it adds, some 75% of the tyre’s tread surface was found to have detached.

The inspection also determined that the braking system for the rear wheels of the centre gear was leaking hydraulic fluid.

Quito’s Mariscal Sucre international airport opened in 2013, succeeding the old airport – which had the same name – located 15km to the west.

One of Iberia’s A340-600s suffered an overrun accident at this predecessor airport in November 2007, after its crew sought to descend below the ILS glideslope in order to use the full length of the runway rather than track to the displaced threshold.

The aircraft approaching in poor weather and a tailwind landed hard, with an impact of around 3g, bursting tyres and causing damage to crucial systems, preventing the A340 from decelerating sufficiently before reaching the end of the 3,120m runway.

While all those on board survived the accident, the jet (EC-JOH) was written off.

Investigators recommended that Iberia should ensure that A340-600 crews receive specific simulator training on the variant, even if they were familiar with the A340-300.

The inquiry also advised Iberia to make sure that crews operating to Quito obtain sufficient experience of the local topography and wind conditions, and strictly observe the criteria for conducting a go-around.

Quito’s current international airport has a longer runway, at 4,100m, than the former facility.


Tourism Observer

USA: JetBlue Starts Flights From Fort Lauderdale To Quito, Ecuador

As previously announced, JetBlue is starting today its service from Fort Lauderdale to Quito, Ecuador. The South American country becomes the 22nd country served by the airline. The service comes to compete with Ecuadorean carrier Tame, which already offers flights between both cities.

“Quito is one of the fastest growing destinations in Latin America and a world-class tourism destination. We are thrilled to bring our award-winning service and low fares to this underserved market,” said Dave Clark, vice president network planning at JetBlue.

Flights from Ft. Lauderdale will depart at 19:00 local, with arrival to Quito at 22:30. Departures from Quito will be at midnight and an early arrival to Ft. Lauderdale at 05:17, all local times. Although the flight will primarily serve an ever growing O&D traffic between South America and Florida, the schedule is flexible enough to allow connection to JetBlue’s network. JetBlue will operate the route using its 150-seat Airbus A320s.

“JetBlue will soon offer more than 100 daily flights to destinations across our network. Whether travelers are coming from South Florida, the northeast or the west coast, it’s never been easier to visit Ecuador’s historic capital city” Clark said.

From Fort Lauderdale, JetBlue also offers direct services to Bogotá, Cartagena and Medellin in Colombia, and to Lima in Peru. Last year, JetBlue added Mexico City as well. Quito is the fifth Latin American destination of the New-York based low-cost carrier.

“The arrival of JetBlue will have a positive impact on the development of tourism from and to the United States and it will offer Ecuadorian passengers greater connectivity from Fort Lauderdale” said said Andrew O’Brian, president and CEO of Corporación Quiport, the concessionaire of Quito’s Mariscal Sucre International Airport. Since its inauguration in 2013, the new Quito International Airport serves more than five million passengers per year.