Sun-bound travellers grounded after Westjet plane 'makes contact' with vehicle at YVR

Passengers looking forward tosome fun in the sun were delayed for hours after a Westjet plane bound for Palm Springsreversed into a catering truck on the tarmac at YVR Thursday morning.

"During pushback from its gate,WestJet flight 1722 from Vancouver to Palm Springs made contact with a catering vehicle," said a statement from Morgan Bell, a Westjet media representative.

Passengers take to social media

Passenger @SunshineSucks took to Twitter, complaining about the flight being cancelled because the pilot drove 'into a truck on the tarmac."

Westjet responded to the tweet sayingthe aircraft was under the control of itscontracted ground crew at the time of the incident.

Passengers and crew returned to the gate and were offloaded, whilearrangements were being made to secure another plane.

Earlier in the day @mattgolfLAB tweeted he was looking forward to some quality family time and warmth, but an hour later tweeted "Who backs a plane into something at an airport?"

Westjet sayspilot error wasn't an issue, becausea pushback crew and tug weredeployed to move the plane in reverse.

"We sincerely apologize for the delay and any inconvenience this may have caused our guests and are working to get them on their way as soon as possible," saidthe statement.

Plane taken out of service

A spokesperson for YVR said the plane has been taken out of service.

The flight departed at 1:05 pm PT, over three-and-a-half hours after its scheduled time.