Perth Airport: Two Qantas planes, both Boeing 737 aircraft, collide on tarmac

An investigation is under way after two Qantas passenger planes collided at Perth Airport. The incident occurred last night (Sunday 3 March) at about 9pm and involved two Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

A flight from Canberra was approaching the gate at a low speed when the wingtip clipped a stationary aircraft at an adjacent gate. In a statement, Qantas said customers and crew who were disembarking the stationary plane arriving from Brisbane “felt a jolt when the wingtips made contact”.

The spokesperson for Qantas said: “After assessing the situation, the captain advised customers to continue to disembark as usual. Engineers are inspecting both aircraft and an investigation is under way.” No injuries were reported by customers or crew of either aircraft.

Sky News Australia contacted the Australian Transport Safety Bureau for comment. The bureau said they are gathering more information as they investigate the circumstances of the incident.

The minor collision highlights the challenges of navigating busy tarmacs and the importance of safety measures. It has sparked conversations about the importance of ground safety protocols and the precautionary measures in place to prevent similar incidents.

The incident comes after Boeing aircraft have been under intense scrutiny since the Alaska Airlines incident on 5 January which saw a window blowout of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane shortly after it took off. The incident terrified passengers and prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground 171 jets with similar designs.

However, recently the FAA said the grounded Boeing planes could return to service if they have been inspected despite concerns over the safety of the aircraft. A former quality manager at Boeing has warned that 737 planes are back up in the air too soon. John Barnett, told TMZ Live on Wednesday 31 January that he is “concerned” about the aircraft being back in service as the door plug blowout incident was due to “jobs not being completed properly”.