Two passenger jets collided on the ground at Heathrow Airport on Saturday (Apr 6) due to which damage occurred to the wings of both aircraft.
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In the aftermath of the collision, which raised concerns among passengers aboard one of the aircraft, images of the incident were widely shared on social media platforms. The incident involved the Virgin Atlantic plane and a British Airways aircraft.
The Virgin Atlantic plane was being towed away when it hit the stationary British Airways aircraft post which both planes sustained damage. However, emergency services swiftly took care of the situation by responding.
Virgin Atlantic promptly initiated an investigation. The collision reportedly took place between Boeing 787 and the BA Airbus A350 at Terminal 3 around noon.
The airline confirmed that the Virgin aircraft, which had completed a flight, was being towed to another part of the airport. Notably, there were no passengers on board the Virgin aircraft at the time of the incident.
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But British Airways had 121 passengers aboard and was due to take off for Accra in Ghana. Whereas, Virgin Atlantic had already completed the flight. Later, another plane from the British Airways fleet was substituted for the flight to Accra by transferring the passengers to that one.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene and evaluated the damage to strategise on how best to separate the planes without causing any further harm.
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A Heathrow spokesperson confirmed that no passenger injuries were reported as of yet. This alleviated immediate concerns about the passengers.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: “We are aware that the wing tip of one of our empty aircraft came into contact with another aircraft whilst being towed from the stand at London Heathrow Terminal 3.”
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“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority. We can confirm no customers were on board the Virgin Atlantic aircraft during this time,” the spokesperson said while adding, “We’ve commenced a full and thorough investigation, and our engineering teams are performing maintenance checks on the aircraft, which for now has been taken out of service.”
Moreover, speaking over the incident, a British Airways spokesman reportedly said, “One of our aircraft, whilst stationary at Heathrow earlier today, was involved in a collision with another airline’s jet, which was being towed from a stand at the time.”
“Our aircraft is being assessed by our engineering teams and we have provided an alternative aircraft to limit the impact on our customers,” it added.
(With inputs from agencies)