A maintenance error delayed an EVA Air flight from New York to Taipei scheduled to arrive at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport this morning and forced the airline to find alternative flights for 57 of the passengers, the airline said yesterday.
The Boeing777-300ER aircraft to be used for Flight No. BR31 had been undergoing routine pre-departure maintenance when the evacuation slide on the L5 cabin door was accidently activated by engineers from the airline’s maintenance agent at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
US aviation safety regulations required the airline to keep the seats near the L5 cabin door vacant following the activation of the slide, which meant that 57 passengers could not board the BR31 flight, the airline said.
The passengers were rescheduled on other flights, the airline said, adding that the last group of the 57 would arrive in Taiwan this morning.
BR31 finally took off at 4:27am on Saturday, three hours after its scheduled 1:25am departure time, airline officials said.
As the incident was caused by EVA’s maintenance agent and EVA’s flight operations were disrupted as well, passengers would not be eligible for compensation from EVA for any inconvenience caused by the incident, it said.
In other travel-related news, the Tourism Bureau said it would ask the Comfort Travel Service Co to submit a report about a non-fatal freeway bus fire in South Korea on Saturday that involved one of its tour groups.
No one on the bus was hurt.
The travel agency should submit the report after the group returns to Taiwan tomorrow, the bureau said.
The fire broke out on Saturday afternoon as a bus carrying the 18-member tour group was traveling through Yangpyeong County in Gyeonggi Province.
Comfort Travel Service said that the tour bus was a licensed vehicle owned by a legal operator and the bus driver held a valid license.
South Korean authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.
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