Fire foam sprayed on wrong aircraft at Chinese airport ‘caused 120m yuan in damage to engines’

Twin engines of Fujian Airlines 737 will need to be replaced in costly operation that will take plane out of service for at least one week.

Firemen at Fuzhou Changle Airport sprayed foam over a Fuzhou Airlines aircraft (left) after a fire alert on Thursday before being told that it was the wrong aircraft. 

Fuzhou Airlines confirmed on Saturday that foam mistakenly sprayed on one of its Boeing 737-800 passenger liners on Thursday damaged both its engines and would cost about 120 million yuan (HK$217 million) to replace them, The Paper.cn, a news portal based in Shanghai, reported.

The airlines said on Saturday on its Weibo account that the fire-retardant foam had entered crucial parts of the engine, requiring both engines to be replaced in an operation that would take a week or more to complete and return the aircraft to service.

Staff from the airline told mainland media that it had launched its claims procedures, but they did not disclose who claim was against and how much compensation would be sought.

On Thursday, eight fire trucks at Fuzhou Changle International Airport mistakenly sprayed the Fuzhou Airlines jet to “cool down” its before they discovered out that it was another plane operated by Air China that was reported to have sparks coming out of its engines.

The airport later explained that when the firemen arrived, the Air China aircraft had already shut down its engines, which led to the erroneous spraying of the Fuzhou Airlines plane.

The incident shut down the airport’s runways for an hour and 40 minutes and delayed 24 outbound flights.

Sources:

http://www.scmp.com

http://m.thepaper.cn

福航遭“乌龙灭火”客机须更换双发，或耗费上亿元已启动索赔

福州长乐机场一架波音737-800客机在进跑道前突然发动机冒火花，机场消防出动。据网友介绍，消防一度误将泡沫洒向报警的福州航空客机。
12月10日，福州机场一架福州航空客机遭遇“乌龙灭火”致停飞。12月13日，澎湃新闻（www.thepaper.cn）从福州航空证实，被机场消防“误喷”的客机因消防泡沫进入发动机核心区，须更换双发动机。资料显示，受损的B1906飞机一个发动机价值约千万美元，双发则2000万美元，折合人民币约1.2亿元。
澎湃新闻此前报道，10日8时左右，福州机场国航CA1822航班在跑道道口出现发动机冒火花现象，福州航空跟随滑行的FU6577航班（B1906飞机）发现后及时通报，国航飞机随即关车。机场消防2分钟赶到后，8辆消防车围住福州航空飞机喷洒灭火泡沫，后发现喷错后，才为国航飞机进行消防处理。受此事影响，福州机场跑道关闭1小时40分钟，机场24个出港航班短时间延误，6个进港航班备降外站。
事后福州航空在官方微博中通报对被误喷泡沫的航班紧急做了以下处理：1、飞机拖回或单发滑回；2、下客；3、检查发动机情况；4、水洗发动机；5、试车。
12日，福航通过官方微博表示，受损的B1906飞机因消防泡沫进入发动机核心区，将必须更换双发；确定非计划性停场7天，预计12月17日完成修复，18日投入运营。
而就在事发当天，福州机场发布通报解释“乌龙事件”：机场消防分部到场时发现国航飞机已处于关车状态，无异常情况，而就在旁边的同型号福航飞机，发动机尾喷口有尾气冒出，在当时应急救援的情况下，为确保万无一失，现场消防指挥官即决定对停在A1上的福航FU6577航班飞机进行降温处置；运行指挥中心发现此情况后，当即通知更正，消防队伍接到指令后，转向国航CA1822航班进行施救。
对此一名航空业内人士向澎湃新闻分析，根据上述通报，福州机场消防部门存在处置警情失误的问题，同时福州机场也存在监管的相关问题。
福州航空相关工作人员向当地媒体表示，目前福州航空已启动索赔程序。对于索赔多少费用，向谁索赔，福航工作人员表示暂时无法公布。