A Virgin Atlantic flight to New York was canceled after a passenger noticed missing screws on the plane’s wing.
The passenger alerted the crew, prompting maintenance checks and reassurances from the airline.
Virgin and Airbus emphasized that the safety of the aircraft was not compromised.
“I’m a good flyer, but my partner was not loving the information I was telling her and starting to panic, and I was trying to put her mind at rest as much as I could,” traveler Phil Hardy said.
“I thought it was best to mention it to a flight attendant to be on the safe side.”
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and this was not compromised at any point,” a Virgin representative stated. “We always work well above industry safety standards and the aircraft is now back in service.”
The affected panel was deemed as secondary structure, and the missing fasteners did not impact the wing’s integrity.
Passengers were rebooked on alternate flights, and the airline apologized for the inconvenience.
“Each of these panels has 119 fasteners, so there was no impact to the structural integrity or load capability of the wing, and the aircraft was safe to operate,” Airbus local chief wing engineer Neil Firth said.
“As a precautionary measure, the aircraft underwent an additional maintenance check, and the fasteners were replaced.”
“We’d like to apologize to our customers for the delay to their journeys,” the Virgin representative said.
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