Two passenger jets collide on the ground at Heathrow Airport

Two planes collided in front of passengers at Heathrow Airport today causing damage to the wings of both aircraft.

Images posted on on social media show a Virgin Atlantic plane’s wing touching a British Airways aircraft, surrounded by emergency services.

Virgin Atlantic has launched an investigation into the collision between the BA Airbus A350 and Virgin Atlantic 787, which happened on the tarmac at Terminal 3 on Saturday at around 12pm.

The aircraft has been taken out of service and engineering teams are performing maintenance checks on it, the airline added.

The Virgin Boeing 787-9 jet had completed a flight and was being towed to a different part of the airfield with no passengers on board at the time of the incident, it is understood.

British Airways confirmed passengers were on board its aircraft during the collision and said another plane from its fleet had to be used for the scheduled flight.

Emergency services were called to the scene following the collision and responders were seen assessing the damage to each plane and attempting to “detangle” the aircraft, one witness claimed.

Alex Whittles, 47-year-old private pilot, who witnessed the crash told The Telegraph: “There was an empty Virgin 787 being pushed back by a tug, but the tug seemed to get the angle completely wrong and it was obvious they were about to clip the British Airways plane.

“That’s why I was watching so closely, and then I saw the crash.”

Mr Whittles, from Telford, Shropshire, said: “I believe the BA flight was loaded with passengers and about to depart to Accra. My concern is for the BA passengers whose flight is now grounded so they will be delayed.

“Emergency crews were incredibly quick but there was no fire or other concern; they just seemed to be making a plan on how to best detangle them without causing further damage to either plane.”

Investigation launched

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “We are aware that the wing tip of one of our empty aircraft came into contact with another aircraft whilst being towed from the stand at London Heathrow Terminal 3.

“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority. We can confirm no customers were on board the Virgin Atlantic aircraft during this time.

“We’ve commenced a full and thorough investigation and our engineering teams are performing maintenance checks on the aircraft, which for now has been taken out of service.”

It said there had been no disruption to Virgin’s flight programme owing to the incident.

A British Airways spokesman said: “One of our aircraft, whilst stationary at Heathrow earlier today, was involved in a collision with another airline’s jet, which was being towed from a stand at the time.

“Our aircraft is being assessed by our engineering teams and we have provided an alternative aircraft to limit the impact on our customers.”

A Heathrow spokesman said: “We are working alongside emergency services and our airline partners in response to an incident involving two aircraft on the ground earlier today.

“At present, no passenger injuries have been reported and we do not anticipate there to be any ongoing impact to airport operations.”