Two planes collide at UK airport

Photo / file

Two Ryanair planes have been damaged in a collision at Stansted Airport, Essex UK, causing three hour delays to flights.

The incident occurred when a Warsaw-bound plane and a plane from Frankfurt Hahn that had just landed collided in the parking area of the airport at about 6.50am.

The crash damaged the wing tip of one plane and the tail cone of the other. Both of the planes were Boeing 737-800 models, which can carry up to 189 passengers.

Essex Police were called to the scene to evacuate the staff and crew and conducted routine breath tests on both pilots, both of which returned with zero. A spokesperson said no one was injured and no further police action would be taken.

A passenger on the Warsaw bound plane said on Twitter: "Huge loud crashing noise and totally felt the crush sitting at the back. Thank God it only hit the wing as if it was the body of the plane it'd been apocalypse."

A Stansted Airport spokesperson said: "We can confirm two aircraft were involved in a minor collision while on the ground at Stansted this morning. Both planes suffered some damage but there were no reported injuries to passengers or crew.

"The airport is operating as normal while an Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigation takes place.

"Passengers from the outbound flight have been offloaded onto an alternative aircraft to continue their journey."

Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said: "This morning at London Stansted the wing tip and tail cone of two Ryanair aircraft made contact while one aircraft was taxiing to stand and the other was commencing pushback from stand.

"Customers were disembarked and boarded two replacement aircraft which departed Stansted with a delay of approximately three hours.

"Our Stansted-based engineering team are currently investigating and will repair both aircraft and return them to service as soon as possible.

"Ryanair sincerely apologises to affected customers for any inconvenience."

-The Independent