Two jets collide at a London airport

Two jets collide at a London airport

Two Boeing jets collided on the ground Saturday morning at Stansted Airport in London, but there were no injuries.

Two Ryanair jets collided on the ground at Stansted Airport  in London Saturday morning, reports BBC News.

The collision occurred at about 06:45 BST (1:45 a.m. EDT) as one plane pushed back and the other was approaching the stand.  An airport spokesman confirmed that there were no injuries. The Air Accident Investigation Board is conducting an investigation.

Stansted (IATA: STN, ICAO: EGSS) is an international airport located in Essex, about 30 miles northeast of Central London. The airport is the largest base for Ryanair, Ltd., a low-cost airline based in Ireland. Ryanair describes itself as Europe’s only ultra low cost carrier.

Essex police conducted “routine breath tests” on both pilots after the incident. No evidence of alcohol consumption was found, said the police.

The wing-tip of one plane and the tail-cone of the other “made contact,” said Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely.  Both aircraft were Boeing 737-800 models with a capacity of up to 189 passengers.

Ryanair was founded in 1985 by the Ryan family and started flights with a 15-passenger plane. The company now owns Europe’s largest fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft and operates over 1,600 flights every day, states the company website.

One of the aircraft damaged in the collision had just landed from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport in Germany; the other was destined for Warsaw, Poland. After a three hour delay passengers were transferred to other planes, said Mr. Kiely.

A passenger on the Warsaw-bound flight said on Twitter: “Huge loud crashing noise and totally felt the crush sitting at the back. Thank God it only hit the wing as if it was the body of the plane it’d been apocalypse.”

The Dublin-based airline sincerely apologises to affected customers for any inconvenience.”

Ryanair is listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. Its American Depositary Shares are listed on the NASDAQ. The airline will carry over 81.5 million passengers this year and has a 29-year safety record, according to its company website.

 

 

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