world News
Two Boeing planes collided on the ground at London's Heathrow Airport on Saturday.
An empty Virgin Atlantic plane was being towed from a platform when its wingtip struck a parked British Airways plane, the airline said.
No passengers were injured in the incident, and operations at the UK's busiest airport were not affected.
British Airways said in a statement: “Our aircraft are being evaluated by our engineering teams and we have provided an alternative aircraft to reduce the impact on our customers.”
Virgin Atlantic said its empty Boeing 787-9 had just landed and was being towed to another part of the airport when the incident occurred in Terminal 3.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “We have launched a full and thorough investigation and our engineering teams are carrying out maintenance checks on the aircraft, which has now been taken out of service.”
The airline said there will be no disruption to its flight schedule.
Heathrow Airport said it was working with emergency services and both airlines in response to the incident.
Alex Wittles, a 47-year-old private pilot, witnessed the accident. He told the Telegraph That collision seemed inevitable as he watched.
He told the newspaper: “There was an empty Virgin 787 being pushed back by a tug, but the tug appeared to have taken quite the wrong angle and it was clear they were about to collide with the British Airways plane.”
“That's why I was watching closely – and then I saw the accident.”
Whittles added that emergency crews were “incredibly quick” to respond.
He added: “There was no fire or any other concerns, but rather it appeared that they were developing a plan on the best way to disentangle themselves without causing further damage to either aircraft.”
With mail wires
Load more…
{{#isDisplay}}
{{/isDisplay}}{{#isAniviewVideo}}
{{/isAniviewVideo}}{{#isSRVideo}}
{{/isSRVideo}}
“Beer aficionado. Gamer. Alcohol fanatic. Evil food trailblazer. Avid bacon maven.”