A Delta Air Lines-operated Boeing 737-800, which was parked at a gate at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), was damaged after a baggage cart was blown across the ramp area and collided with the left engine of the aircraft.
The apparent cause of the accident was a jet blast from a passing Southwest Airlines 737, which hit the baggage cart with such force that it was blown across the tarmac.
In a summary of the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that no one was injured, although the extent of the damage to the aircraft has not yet been reported.
The 10-year-old aircraft, which once belong to Brazil’s GOL and the European low-cost airline Transavia before being bought by Delta in 2017, had just arrived in Los Angeles from Salt Lake City on Wednesday and was preparing for an onward flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Following the accident, the aircraft (registration: N774DE) appears to have remained on the ground and hasn’t operated any further flights. The scheduled flight to Puerto Vallarta was delayed by around an hour while a replacement aircraft was found.
Last month, a Delta-operated Boeing 757 was badly damaged while waiting to take off at Mexico City Airport when an Aeromexico plane collided with the horizontal stabilizer Delta jet.
The Delta aircraft was waiting on a slipway between two taxiways when the Aeromexico plane passed on the main taxiway. Investigators will have to determine whether the Delta plane stopped short on the slipway leading to the backend sticking out onto the main taxiway.
