An investigation has been launched following the collision between two passenger aircraft while one of the planes was being towed at Heathrow Airport.
Footage posted on social media shows the wing of a Virgin Atlantic plane touching a British Airways plane, surrounded by rescue workers.
It is believed that the Virgin Boeing 787-9 aircraft had ended its flight at the time of the incident and was being towed to another part of the airport without any passengers on board.
Virgin said an investigation into the collision had been launched.
The aircraft has been taken out of service and is currently being serviced by technical teams, the airline added.
The British Airways (BA) aircraft was not moving at the time of the incident and is currently being examined by technical teams, the company said.
BA said it had provided a replacement aircraft to “limit the impact on our customers”.
JUST HERE – A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 collides with a British Airways Airbus A350-1041 on the ground at London Heathrow. pic.twitter.com/nz0yXwV81Z
— Q..uebec A NON! (@QuebecANONN) 6 April 2024
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: “We are aware that the wingtip of one of our empty aircraft came into contact with another aircraft while being towed from its stand at Terminal 3 at London Heathrow Airport.”
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority.
“We can confirm that there were no customers on board the Virgin Atlantic aircraft during this time.
“We have launched a comprehensive and thorough investigation and our engineering teams are conducting maintenance checks on the aircraft, which has been temporarily taken out of service.”
It is assumed that Virgin Atlantic’s flight schedule was not disrupted by the incident.
The towing operation was carried out by a ground handling company acting on behalf of Virgin Atlantic.
A British Airways spokesman said: “One of our aircraft was involved in a collision while parked at Heathrow today with another airline’s jet, which was being towed from a stand at the time.
“Our aircraft is being evaluated by our engineering teams and we have deployed a replacement aircraft to limit the impact to our customers.”
A Heathrow Airport spokesman said: “We are working with the emergency services and our partner airlines in response to the ground incident involving two aircraft that occurred this morning.
“There have been no reported passenger injuries at this time and we do not anticipate any lasting impact on airport operations.”
