New Delhi: The wings of two aircraft collided while taxiing at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday, causing damage to both the planes.An Akasa Air plane was stationary and preparing for take-off to Hyderabad and a SpiceJet flight, which had landed from Leh, was taxiing to the parking bay. Officials said the air traffic control officer concerned and the pilots of SpiceJet have been off-rostered pending an investigation. The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered an inquiry.Officials said the wings collided at Terminal 1 around 2.15 pm. Videos and pictures confirmed that both the planes were damaged. A portion of the SpiceJet flight’s wing got attached to the Akasa aircraft. “An Akasa departure flight QP-1406 to Hyderabad was taxied out from stand and one SpiceJet arrival flight, SG-124, which landed from Leh, was taxiing in for stand when their wings collided,” an airport official said.A SpiceJet spokesperson said a B737-700 aircraft “was involved in a ground occurrence” that damaged its right winglet and the left-hand horizontal stabiliser of another aircraft belonging to a different airline.”The spokesperson added that the SpiceJet aircraft has been grounded at Delhi.An Akasa Air spokesperson said the aircraft had to return to the bay. “Preliminary information indicates that Akasa’s aircraft was stationary when another airline’s aircraft made contact with it. All passengers and crew safely disembarked, and our ground teams are making alternative arrangements to fly our passengers to Hyderabad at the earliest. In line with established protocols, the relevant authorities have been informed, and the matter is under investigation,” said the spokesperson, adding that at Akasa Air, the safety and security of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority.The aviation ministry, in a statement, said DGCA is carrying out the investigation and confirmed that the ATC officer and SpiceJet pilots have been off-rostered for now. “The SpiceJet winglet of the B-737-700 aircraft taxiing in the allocated parking bay after operating flight SG-124 (Leh-Delhi) at Terminal 1 has hit horizontal tail surface (HTS) of Akasa B-737 aircraft positioned on the apron after pushback for operating flight on sector (Delhi-Hyderabad). Due to the impact, right-hand-side winglet of the SpiceJet aircraft and the trimmable horizontal stabiliser of Akasa aircraft were damaged,” it said. The authority confirmed SpiceJet and Akasa Air’s statements on how the wings collided.
