Cathay Pacific said one of its planes was "struck" to the ground on Tuesday by a Korean Airlines plane at Sapporo airport in northern Japan. "Cathay Pacific confirms that an incident involving a Cathay Pacific aircraft occurred while parked today (Tuesday) at Sapporo's New Chitose Airport. Our aircraft, which was static and not carrying passengers or flight attendants, was hit by a Korean Air A330 taxiing on the ground," the Hong Kong airline said in a statement.
"A Korean Air aircraft made contact with a Cathay aircraft while reversing at New Chitose Airport when a third-party ground handling vehicle skidded due to heavy snowfall," the South Korean airline said.
The Korean plane was carrying 276 passengers and 13 crew members on board when, according to firefighters, it struck the Cathay Pacific plane that was parked at the empty gate. According to Japanese media, there were no injuries in the collision.
Snow and visibility to blame?
Weather reports indicate that visibility is currently poor in the northern part of Japan, with heavy snowfall reported in some areas and temperatures around -4°C at New Chitose Airport at the time of the accident.
The crash comes just over two weeks after a Japanese airline plane collided and burst into flames after colliding with another plane on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.
It also comes a day after a similar accident in the United States: on Sunday night at Chicago International Airport, a plane taxiing to one gate hit another. The left wing tip of Japanese airline All Nippon Airways Flight 11 struck the rear of Delta Air Lines Flight 2122 around 18:30 p.m., Federal Aviation Association spokesman Tony Molinaro said. The All Nippon Airways flight was a Boeing 777 and the Delta Airlines plane was a Boeing 717. No injuries were reported. The All Nippon Airways flight to Tokyo was cancelled while the plane was inspected.