A Dynamic Airways Boeing 767-200, registration N251MY performing flight 2D-405 from Fort Lauderdale,FL (USA) to Caracas (Venezuela), was taxiing for departure holding short of Fort Lauderdale’s runway 28R after contacting tower, when the crew of another aircraft advised there was a massive fuel leak from the left hand engine (JT9D), the 767 crew acknowledged and requested to return to the ramp, when the other crew alerted the engine was now on fire. The 767 was evacuated via slides, emergency services responded and put the fire out using foam reporting the fire was out 7 minutes after the other crew had alerted of the engine fire. There are no reports of injuries, the 767 received substantial damage.
Airport Operations reported a large, very smelly puddle of fuel at taxiway T4 about 700 meters/2300 feet prior to the holding point runway 28R.
Runway 28R was closed, all operations of the airport were switched to runway 28L.
The Aviation Herald
jetBlue adds Nashville from Boston and Fort Lauderdale
JetBlue Airways (New York) has announced service to Nashville International Airport (BNA) will begin on May 5, 2016. The airline will operate two daily nonstop roundtrips between Nashville and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and one daily roundtrip between Nashville and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL).
JetBlue announced it was adding Nashville to its growing list of destinations in July as part of its commitment to growth in both Boston and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood. In Boston JetBlue will operate more than 130 daily flights and nearly 100 daily flights in Fort Lauderdale this year.
All Nashville routes will be operated on Airbus A320 aircraft.
World Airline News
jetBlue to serve Quito
JetBlue has confirmed today that a new service from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Quito (UIO) will start next February 25. The new daily non-stop service was already announced in May, together with the Mexico City service scheduled to start today.
“Ecuador is quickly becoming one of the top travel destinations in Latin America which makes Quito an excellent addition to our growing route map,” said Dave Clark, vice president network planning, JetBlue.
The addition of Quito and Mexico City to Latin America and the Caribbean network of JetBlue is part of its continuous expansion plan out of Fort Lauderdale. As of today, the airline will operate to Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Aruba, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands and Jamaica, besides Ecuador in the short term.
JetBlue also operates US-authorized charter flights to Cuba from New York, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa to Havana and from Tampa to Santa Clara, and it has had conversations with Venezuelan government officers to open Fort Lauderdale – Caracas service, without positive results so far.
The battle between JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit for the dominance at Fort Lauderdale continues. It is expected to see a major expansion of Southwest into Latin America in 2016, relying on Fort Lauderdale’s convenient geographical location and its closeness to Miami, which hosts an ever growing Latin American community.
Airways News