As the investigation continues into the tragic crash of Spanair flight JK5022 at Madrid’s Barajas airport on August 20th in which 154 people lost their lives, media attention is currently focusing on whether the airline thought about changing planes just before the crash.
First reports stated that the airline had considered changing aircraft shortly before the fatal flight after an aborted take-off. A Government statement was published to this effect.
Early on Sunday, Spanair issued a statement saying, ‘at no time was it our intention to replace the aircraft’. In response to this statement, the airport authority AENA, who systematically record all information provided by airlines in connection with their operations at Barajas airport, have issued a press release in which they state that video recordings clearly indicate that the Head of Operations at Spanair informed the Central Airport Management that ‘there will be a change of registry of the aircraft’ and then, minutes later, changed his mind.
Only one of them can be right! Hopefully, the truth will out in the end.