Will This Boeing 787, Damaged By Ground Vehicle, Ever Fly Again?

Well, at the time we're releasing this video, it'll be just about two months since a Boeing 787-9 was struck by a ground service vehicle at London Heathrow. The aircraft, operated by Saudi Arabian Airlines, has been at the UK airport ever since. And so, we thought we'd take this opportunity to explore why the aircraft has been on the ground for such a long time and may never fly again. A quick recap for those who didn't see the original video, it was back on May 28th 2025 that a Saudi 787-9, registered Hotel Zulu Alpha Romeo Foxtrot, was struck by a ground services truck. The widebody's aft fuselage was deeply penetrated by metal railings mounted on the truck. According to news site Mirror, baggage handlers at the scene report that the driver mixed up the pedals of the lorry. Some commenting on our initial report video had doubts about the aircraft's repairability. Here are just a few remarks from our viewers. That doesn't look fixable. Gap is too wide. It may need the whole section replaced. That kind of damage to a composite fuselage is going to take lots of money and lots and lots of time. It also appears that the damage is near the aft pressure bulkhead, which could make it even worse. This will be a very difficult repair. Much easier to repair this sort of damage on a non-composite aircraft like a 777. Even if it can be repaired, the fuselage will be weakened. I wouldn't be surprised if this aircraft gets written off. I wouldn't be surprised if their insurers wrote it off. I've worked with carbon fiber mountain bikes, and it's a nightmare to repair. Even whole sections have to be knitted back together, and on a huge structure like that could potentially take months to fix. There will be stress fractures running off either side of that gouge. The whole section will have to be x-rayed repeatedly during repair work. We contacted the airline on multiple occasions to inquire about the status of the jet, but they never responded to us. So, unfortunately, we don't have any official news for you regarding this airframe. Nonetheless, we know that it has been on the ground at London Heathrow ever since the incident. As stated by EU Cordis, or the Community Research and Development Information Service, the problem is that CFRP parts may be difficult to repair. The material is also complicated to assess for when repair is necessary. A particular problem is delamination due to impact. Difficulty repairing aircraft parts leads to longer delays and higher costs. On our long-haul channel, we made a video about Airbus and Austrian Airlines repairing a severely damaged A320neo. The aircraft was stored at Vienna from the date of the incident, April 6th, 2024, and wouldn't emerge until March 23rd, 2025. That repair project had a fair bit of uncharted territory, performing procedures that had never been done before. We can imagine that if repairs do go ahead that it would be a similar and even more complex case for the Saudia 787, since it has a composite fuselage. And so, do you think the jet will return to the skies? Let us know by leaving a comment. Visit SimpleFlying.com