On 18th March, a VivaAeroBus Airbus A320-200 suffered a nose landing gear collapse during the lineup for take-off at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The 15 year old aircraft, with registration XA-VAZ, was backtracking on runway 22 to perform flight VB-4343 from Puerto Vallarta to Monterrey (Mexico) when, while doing the 180 turn to line up for take off, the nose gear collapsed. Passengers were evacuated via slides, onboard were 127 passengers and, fortunately, no one sustained any injuries.
In a press release, the airline confirmed the nose landing gear collapse and explained that the crew had immediately activated all safety protocols, together with the aviation authorities and airport, to ensure the safety of all passengers and crew. An aircraft inspection was performed by VivaAeroBus personnel and the incident is currently under investigation.
The aircraft in question arrived at VivaAeroBus in 2016 and prior to that flew with AirAsia Zest, Zest Air and Kingfisher Airlines. The Mexican airline currently has an all Airbus fleet, encompassing 43 aircraft including 20 A320-200s, 20 A320neos and 3 A321neos with a an average age of 4.5 years old.
More photos of the incident:
Cover Photo: Twitter/Aviationmex