Still early to quantify damage to Air Malta plane

It is still too early to say whether the Air Malta plane, damaged when it hit a pylon on Monday night, could be repaired and what the costs could amount to, aviation industry sources said yesterday.

The leased Airbus A320 is insured but the national airline was likely to have a significant amount of excess to pay, the sources added.

The sources said that although inquiries were still underway, and one should await their outcome, it was becoming evident that the incident was "a collective mistake".

Air Malta's flight schedule would not be affected as a result of being one aircraft short and this was because traffic is low at the moment, the sources added.

The plane hit the pylon with its wing tip on taxiing out of parking area two on its way to the runway for take-off en route to Catania.

The sources said that investigations would look into whether the plane should have been moving on its own power or whether it should have been towed. The investigators would also have to establish whether procedure had been followed when passengers where allowed to board the plane in the area where the accident happened.

The pylon collapsed and ended up resting on the aircraft fuselage after the collision which, it seems, occurred when the pilot was manoeuvring the plane between a Malta Air Charter helicopter and an Azzurra Air aircraft.

The plane's wing was damaged and, as a result, a fuel leak ensued, so much so that passengers were advised not to use their mobile phones and not to evacuate the plane before the area was secured.

No one was injured and the 27 passengers on board the A320 were flown to Catania some three hours later on another aircraft.