Watch: Airbus A330 Blocks Chinese Streets As It Squeezes Through Traffic – View from the Wing

Video shows a truck pulling the fuselage of an Airbus A330-200 on February 18 in Tianjin, China. It caused a traffic jam as the aircraft maneuvered through local roads on its journey to the Sunrise Dongjiang Camping Base where it is being repurposed into a tourism complex featuring flight simulators, aviation education, and dining and will open to the public on May 1, during the May Day holiday.

老板：“为什么迟到？”
员工：“我要说路上堵飞机了你信吗！” pic.twitter.com/fWmoxmgTbL

— 水城观天下 (@shui_dao62398) February 19, 2025

While the fuselage displays only partial remnants of the original airline’s livery, it looks to me like an Air China plane that video shows blocking the road while surrounding vehicles remain stationary. Initially it appeared that the plane was stuck, but it was just in the middle of a slow and deliberate turn that took approximately half an hour to make.

The widebody aircraft had to be moved in 11 separate components over 23 days, with the fuselage alone stretching nearly 60 meters and weighing over 60 tons. The driver noted that even with prior training and doing simulations in advance it was still tricky to handle the massive load and he relied heavily on an instructor guiding him with a baton. The plane had to be turned five times along the trip and maneuvering the eighth intersection of the Dongjiang Free Trade Port Area was a huge challenge in heavy traffic.

Several years ago Air India tried to move an old Airbus A320 to a training facility and decided to use a crane that apparently couldn’t withstand the weight of an aircraft. The crane’s arm snapped.

Dramatic pics: Crane carrying Air India plane crashes in Hyderabad https://t.co/ATvBvQp5G3 pic.twitter.com/55v7DOJDG2

— NDTV (@ndtv) April 10, 2016

Then in 2021 a retired Air India Airbus A320 got stuck under a bridge at the Delhi-Gurugram highway near the Delhi airport. Traffic backed up behind the stuck aircraft.

#WATCH An @airindiain plane ✈️ (not in service) got stuck under foot over bridge. Can anyone confirm the date and location?
The competition starts now pic.twitter.com/pukB0VmsW3

— Ashoke Raj (@Ashoke_Raj) October 3, 2021

Then a year ago the same thing happened again to another Air India Airbus A320.

Video: Plane Gets Stuck Under Bridge In Bihar, Causes Massive Traffic Jam https://t.co/4VnGV0OPg5 pic.twitter.com/fk7RkrR41w

— NDTV (@ndtv) December 30, 2023

Aircraft blocking traffic seems to happen a lot, but much more often with Air India than even in China?