New Delhi: The wingtip of a Virgin Atlantic aircraft collided with a parked British Airways plane while being towed from a stand at Terminal 3 of London’s Heathrow Airport on Saturday.
Heathrow Airport, which is renowned as Britain's busiest airport, said that no injuries to passengers were reported as a result of the collision. Additionally, the airport authorities stated that they did not anticipate any significant disruptions to ongoing airport operations due to the incident.
According to Virgin Atlantic, the incident involved one of its Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which had just completed a flight and was in the process of being towed to another area of the airport. Despite the collision, the airline said that there would be no disruptions to its flight schedule for the day.
"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,” news agency Reuters quoted a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson as saying.
“We are aware that the wingtip of one of our empty aircraft came into contact with another aircraft whilst being towed from the stand at London Heathrow Terminal 3. The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority,” the spokesperson added.
Heathrow Airport issued a statement saying that it was collaborating with emergency services and both airlines involved to address the situation promptly and ensure safety measures were in place following the incident.
"Our aircraft is being assessed by our engineering teams and we have provided an alternative aircraft to limit the impact on our customers," British Airways said in a statement.