Egypt Air, Virgin Atlantic Airplanes Collide, Clip Wings At JFK Airport

Two planes clipped wings on a John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) runway in New York Monday night, forcing both jetliners back to the terminal, federal authorities said.

The Egypt Air Flight 986 headed to Cairo was moving on Taxiway Kilo when its right wing touched the left wing of Virgin Atlantic Flight 4C, an Airbus A333, slightly after 7 p.m. EST, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorities said.

Egypt Air’s Boeing 777 was sent back to Terminal 4 on its own power while the Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A333 had to be towed, officials said, according to the CW affiliate PIX 11.

No was said to be injured and both the planes had been taken out of commission.

Photos and videos posted on social media showed debris from the plane wings could be seen on the runway.

The flights had been scheduled to leave at 6:30 p.m. EST for Cairo and London, respectively, from the airport. The FAA has been investigating the incident.

This was not the first time that airplanes have clipped wings or collided with each other on the runway. Similar incidents have taken place earlier.

In August this year, two Indonesian passenger jets suffered minor damage in a runway incident when a Wings Air ATR-72 was preparing for take-off and a larger Lion Air Boeing 737 clipped the ATR's right wing while landing at the Kualanamu International Airport (KIA) in Medan, North Sumatra, in Indonesia. None of the crew members or passengers had been hurt in the incident.

The Lion Air flight that landed with 144 passengers, was arriving from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, while the Wings Air plane was about to take off from Medan for Meulaboh, Indonesia, when the accident occurred. Wings Air is a subsidiary of the Lion Air Group. 66 passengers were onboard the Wings Air flight at the time of the incident. "All our passengers are safe and no one is injured," Lion Air Group spokesman Andy Saladin said at the time, a Strait Times report said.

In another incident also in August, a wing of a Delta Air Lines plane crashed into the tail of of an American Airlines aircraft at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Seattle-bound Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 hit the American Airlines plane's tail as it was waiting to leave. The American Airlines flight was headed for Dublin, Ireland.

In October 2016, two commercial planes clipped wings on the taxiway at Newark Airport in New Jersey. Port Authority officials said that a United Airlines plane clipped the wing of a Lufthansa plane. The Lufthansa plane was said to be parked on the taxiway and there were no passengers aboard it. No injuries were caused on either of the planes. However, both the planes had sustained some amount of damage. United Airlines had said at the time that its flight 88 returning from Beijing came in contact with another plane and that the plane had been towed to the gate.