Passenger plane damaged as two aircraft collide on Japan airport runway

A passenger plane was damaged after two aircraft collided on a runway, the second airport crash within weeks in Japan.

The incident happened at New Chitose Airport on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Tuesday 16 January.

A Korean Air Lines plane clipped a Cathay Pacific Airways aircraft as it was preparing for take-off, a Korean Air official said.

Footage broadcast by a Japanese television network appears to show the damage to the Korean Air passenger plane.

According to Hokkaido Airports, which operates New Chitose Airport, they received a report of the incident at around 5:30pm local time.

Korean Air provided the following statement on the incident: “A Korean Air aircraft came into contact with a Cathay aircraft during pushback at New Chitose (Sapporo) Airport by the third-party ground handler vehicle which slipped due to heavy snow. There were no injuries, and the airline is cooperating with all relevant authorities.”