Two planes from Korean Air Lines and Cathay Pacific Airways have made contact Tuesday, January 16, at Japan's New Chitose Airport, which serves the Sapporo metropolitan area. No injuries were reported.
Minor Collison at Japan Airport
In a report by South China Morning Post, a representative from Korean Air said that at around 5:35 PM local time, flight KE766 from Sapporo to Seoul was being pulled back from its parking spot by a towing truck in preparation for takeoff when it struck with a stationary Cathay aircraft.
She described it as a "clipping incident" that occurred at Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport when a third-party ground-handler vehicle fell in the severe snow, causing the Korean Air and Cathay planes to collide with one another. "There were no injuries and the airline is cooperating with all relevant authorities," the spokeswoman added.
There were a total of 276 passengers and 13 staff members on the Korean Air jet. Meanwhile, the Cathay plane was empty.
According to the Korean Air spokesperson, travelers will be placed on a flight that departs from Seoul's Incheon airport and arrives in Sapporo at 11:30 PM local time. She also said that the rescheduled flight would return to Incheon at 4:15 AM local time on Wednesday, January 17.
A portion of the Korean Air plane's wing was reportedly damaged.
An official from Cathay acknowledged that an incident had occurred on one of their planes. "Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers or crew on board, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past."
After the incident, Cathay announced that their Sapporo to Hong Kong flight CX583 was not going to operate as planned. However, they promised to transfer the majority of passengers to another route on Tuesday and the remaining customers the next day.
Flight attendants at Cathay were informed that the planes would be grounded for repairs and stringent inspection post-repair before flying again.
Two Accidents Within Two Weeks
This makes two accidents at airports in Japan in the span of two weeks. On January 2, a tragic crash occurred at Tokyo's busy Haneda airport between an aircraft operated by Japan Airlines and a plane belonging to the coastguard.
A fire broke out on both flights when JAL 516, which was carrying 379 people (including 14 Hongkongers and crew), touched down on the runway just behind the coastguard jet that was getting ready to take off from the same spot.
It only took 18 minutes for everyone on board the JAL Airbus A350-900 to get off the plane safely.
Five members of the coastguard's crew died. The commander managed to escape with burns. The coastguard aircraft did not get explicit takeoff clearance, according to a partially released transcript of the air traffic control conversation.
