Dubai plane collision: Jets ‘clip’ each other on airport taxiway

Two passenger jets from low-cost carrier FlyDubai and Bahrain-based Gulf Air collided with each other on the taxiway at Dubai International Airport early Thursday morning, though authorities reported no injuries in the incident.

Dubai Airports confirmed the incident in a statement.

“Dubai Airports can confirm an incident took place in the early hours of this morning, Thursday, July 22, at DXB involving two passenger aircraft. As a result of this, one runway was temporarily closed to allow for the minor incident to be swiftly managed. Operations at DXB were not impacted and the runway was reopened after two hours,” Dubai Airports said.

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FlyDubai said one of its Boeing 737-800s heading to Kyrgyzstan found itself affected by “a minor incident” and forced to return to the stand. It said passengers took a later flight, which departed six hours later.

“Passengers were accommodated on a later flight, which has departed. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our passengers’ travel plans. Flydubai will work with the authorities to investigate the incident,” the airline said, adding that the collision damaged a wingtip on one of the aircraft.

Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air said a “ground incident” at DXB happened when one of its aircraft was impacted on the tail by an aircraft of another airline.

Gulf Air did not identify the aircraft involved, but said it was “working to reconnect all the passengers to their final destinations.” Gulf Air flies passengers from Dubai International Airport onto its hub at Bahrain International Airport in Manama.

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest airport for international travel before the coronavirus pandemic, said the collision forced them to shut down one of its two runways for two hours. It said operations were not affected by the closure.

With The Associated Press

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