Air Seychelles-B767-300 suffers damage in Paris |26 December 2007

According to a communiqué from the airline, the aircraft struck a barrier fence just below its tail, resulting in the aircraft’s skin being punctured in a number of places.

An investigation will be carried out to ascertain the cause. There were passengers and crew on board at the time of the incident but the engines had not been started yet. The aircraft was being manoeuvred by the ground crew at the time.

The communiqué says that the aircraft has been removed from service and is being assessed by structural engineers from Boeing and Air Seychelles’ service providers.

“Given the nature of the damage, it is expected to take several days and possibly a week or more to repair,” says the communique.

“This comes at a particularly bad time when flights into Seychelles are full with holidaymakers. Air Seychelles is doing its best to re arrange its schedules to maximise use of its other two B767s and also actively seeking a replacement aircraft to operate flights on its behalf,” adds the communiqué.

As a result of this incident, yesterday’s flight to Mauritius and Bangkok has been delayed and will now operate today.