Two Boeing planes grounded at London’s Heathrow Airport

World News

By Patrick Reilly

Two Boeing airplanes collided on the ground at London’s Heathrow Airport on Saturday.

An empty Virgin Atlantic jet was being towed from a stand when its wingtip clipped a parked British Airways airliner, the airline said.

No passengers were injured at the crash, and operations at the UK’s busiest airport were not affected.

“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.

Virgin Atlantic said its empty Boeing 787-9 had just landed and was being towed to another part of the airfield when the incident happened at Terminal 3.

“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 said there would be no disruption to its flight schedule.

Heathrow said it was working with emergency services and the two airlines in response to the incident.

Alex Whittles, a 47-year-old private pilot who witnessed the crash, told The Telegraph that the collision appeared inevitable as he watched.

 “There was an empty Virgin 787 being pushed back by a tug, but the tug seemed to get the angle completely wrong and it was obvious they were about to clip the British Airways plane,” he told the paper.

“That’s why I was watching so closely – and then I saw the crash.”

Whittles added that emergency crews were “incredibly quick” to respond.

“There was no fire or other concern — they just seemed to be making a plan on how to best detangle them without causing further damage to either plane,” he said.

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