An empty Virgin Atlantic aircraft’s wingtip collided with a stationary British Airways plane while being towed from a stand at London’s Heathrow Airport on Saturday (April 6), as confirmed by both airlines. Heathrow Airport, the busiest in Britain, assured that no passenger injuries were reported and that it does not expect any ongoing disruption to airport operations.
“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.
Both planes were empty
Virgin Atlantic stated that its Boeing 787-9, which was empty after completing a flight, was in the process of being towed to another location within Terminal 3 of the airfield when the incident occurred.
“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,” a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said.
The airline assured that its flying schedule for Saturday remained unaffected. Heathrow Airport mentioned that it was collaborating with emergency services and both airlines to address the situation following the incident.