According to a Korean Air spokeswoman, flight KE766 was being pushed backwards from its parking position while preparing for take-off when it collided with a Cathay aircraft around 5.35pm local time.
Calling it a “clipping incident”, she said the Korean Air aircraft came into contact with a Cathay plane “when the third-party ground handler slipped due to heavy snow” at New Chitose Airport.
“There were no injuries and the airline is cooperating with all relevant authorities,” she added.
The Korean Air plane had 276 passengers and 13 crew members on board. There was no one on the Cathay aircraft.
According to Sapporo Television Broadcasting, part of the wing of the Korean Air aircraft was damaged.
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A Cathay spokesman confirmed there had been an incident involving one of its aircraft.
“Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers or crew on board, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past,” he said.
“As a result, flight CX583 from Sapporo to Hong Kong will not operate as scheduled. The majority of our customers will be protected onto another Cathay Pacific service today, with the remainder travelling with us tomorrow. We extend our apologies to the affected customers.”
According to the airport’s website, there are flight delays and cancellations with video footage showing the area is experiencing heavy snow.
It is the second collision at a Japanese airport in two weeks. A Japan Airlines jet and a coastguard plane were involved in a fatal collision at Tokyo’s busy Haneda airport on January 2.
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JAL flight 516, carrying 379 passengers and crew, landed behind the coastguard aircraft preparing to take off on the same runway, engulfing both aircraft in flames.
All occupants of the JAL Airbus A350-900 safely evacuated in 18 minutes. The captain of the coastguard’s much smaller Bombardier Dash-8 escaped with burns, but his five crew members died.
A partial release of the air traffic control transcript showed no clear take-off approval was given to the coastguard plane.