British Airways Flight Delayed After Emergency Slide Accidentally Deploys Onto Ground Truck in Montreal

A British Airways flight bound for London Heathrow was delayed for hours after an emergency evacuation slide accidentally deployed onto a ground service truck while the aircraft was preparing to leave the gate in Montreal.

The incident happened Friday night aboard flight BA94, a scheduled service from Montreal International Airport to London Heathrow. The aircraft, a Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner registered G-ZBLA, was undergoing routine pre-departure procedures when one of its emergency slides inflated and deployed onto a catering truck positioned beside the open cabin door.

What Happened at the Gate

An aircraft door's emergency slide is designed to automatically disarm when the door is opened from outside by ground personnel, even if it had inadvertently been left in the armed position. The circumstances surrounding BA94 suggest the door may instead have been opened from inside the aircraft while the slide remained armed, triggering the deployment. The exact sequence of events has not been officially confirmed.

An inadvertent slide deployment, known in the industry as an ISD, can pose a serious hazard when ground equipment or personnel are positioned near the door, since a rapidly inflating slide can strike or topple nearby vehicles. In this case, the catering truck absorbed the impact of the slide without toppling over, and no injuries were reported.

Delay, Not Cancellation

Contrary to some early confusion, the flight itself was not canceled. Ground and maintenance crews responded to inspect the aircraft and safely deflate and secure the slide. Because British Airways would not have had the resources to replace the slide in Montreal, the affected door was likely placarded to indicate it could not be used in an emergency, and engineers removed the slide rather than fitting a replacement on site. Depending on the number of passengers booked, some may have needed to be offloaded to comply with rules governing the required number of usable emergency exits relative to passenger count.

The aircraft eventually departed and landed at Heathrow approximately two and a half to three and a half hours behind schedule, according to varying reports. Passengers were not offloaded en masse or rebooked onto alternative services, as the flight ultimately operated on the same aircraft.

Knock-On Disruption

The real operational fallout landed on the aircraft's next scheduled rotation. Due to the delay and the maintenance checks required following the incident, British Airways was forced to cancel the aircraft's subsequent flight, BA189, a service from London to Newark Liberty International Airport.

A Recurring Industry Issue

Accidental slide deployments are not uncommon in commercial aviation. They are commonly caused by crew fatigue, unfamiliarity with a specific aircraft's door mechanism, or confusion among newer crew members about arming procedures. Airlines train cabin crew to cross-check door arming status with colleagues before opening any door, a step considered one of the most important routine safety procedures in day-to-day operations.

When a slide deploys by mistake, the financial cost to an airline can be considerable. Repacking or replacing a single slide, along with the associated delays, passenger care, and aircraft downtime, can run into the tens of thousands of dollars or more.

What Comes Next

British Airways has not publicly detailed the cause of the incident, though airlines typically conduct internal reviews of inadvertent slide deployments to determine whether additional training or procedural changes are warranted. The route between Montreal and London Heathrow remains one of British Airways' regular transatlantic services, and the airline continued operating its normal schedule between the two cities following the incident.