In the early morning of 23 November, Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-200 registered OO-SFU had safely operated flight SN372 from Yaounde and Douala to Brussels and had docked on-time at the B gates of Brussels Airport.

In order to operate its next flight, it had to be moved to the T gates. A push-back truck was called to carry out that transfer. During the towing, the push-back truck started to slip (hydraulic oil or something wrong with the new tarmac at Position 300? The investigation is ongoing), rotated 180 degrees and ended up under the aircraft. As a result, the nose gear was seriously damaged, as could be seen on the attached photographs (click on the pictures to enlarge).

The same morning, the flight to Toronto was cancelled and the passengers accommodated on alternative flights.

Brussels Airlines maintenance is in contact with Airbus to evaluate the extent of the damage and order the needed spare parts. At the time of writing, Brussels Airlines spokeswoman Wencke Lemmes could not yet confirm to Aviation24.be when the aircraft would be repaired and put back into service.