Two passenger planes have collided while on the tarmac at Heathrow Airport on Saturday (April 6).
The incident, captured on social media, involved British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic aircrafts.
The Virgin Boeing 787-9 plane had completed a flight and was being towed to a different part of the airfield when it clipped the wing of the British Airways aircraft.
It is believed no passengers were onboard either aircrafts at the time of the incident.
Investigation launched following collision between two planes at Heathrow Airport
An investigation has now been launched into the incident, according to Virgin Atlantic, while the aircraft involved has been taken out of service while engineering teams perform maintenance checks.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “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.
“We can confirm no customers were on board the Virgin Atlantic aircraft during this time.
“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.”
It is understood Virgin Atlantic’s flying programme has not been disrupted by the incident.
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The BA aircraft involved in the collision is also being assessed by engineering teams and an alternative plane has been provided to “limit the impact on our customers”.
A spokesperson for British Airways said: “One of our aircraft, whilst stationary at Heathrow earlier today, was involved in a collision with another airline’s jet, which was being towed from a stand at the time.
“Our aircraft is being assessed by our engineering teams and we have provided an alternative aircraft to limit the impact on our customers.”
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The collision comes as around 70 flights in and out of the UK have been cancelled already today (Saturday, April 6) due to Storm Kathleen.
"No passengers injuries" in collision says Heathrow Airport
A Heathrow spokesperson added: “We are working alongside emergency services and our airline partners in response to an incident involving two aircraft on the ground earlier today.
“At present, no passenger injuries have been reported and we do not anticipate there to be any ongoing impact to airport operations.”
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