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Qantas is investigating an incident where two of its 737-800s clipped wings at Perth Airport on Sunday night.
Images posted on social media showed the wingtips of VH-VZW, which had operated flight QF939 from Brisbane, and VH-XZP (pictured at Townsville), which had operated QF857 from Canberra, shortly after the collision at around 9pm local time. Nobody was injured in the incident.
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“While approaching the gate at low-speed, the wingtip of one aircraft has come into contact with the wingtip of another stationary aircraft at the adjacent gate,” the airline said in a statement.
“Customers and crew who were disembarking the stationary aircraft felt a jolt when the wingtips made contact. After assessing the situation, the Captain advised customers to continue to disembark as usual.
“Engineers are inspecting both aircraft and an investigation is underway.”
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VH-VZW was one of two 737-800s involved in a separation incident at Sydney Airport last May, where a misinterpreted instruction from air traffic control by the plane’s crew saw it and VH-VZM come as close as 1.5km laterally and 330ft vertically as it landed from Queenstown at the same time as the other aircraft was taking off for Brisbane.
In response to the Sydney incident, Airservices Australia advised the ATSB that it had undertaken and would undertake a range of safety actions, according to ATSB director transport safety Dr Stuart Godley in January.
“These include a detailed analysis of landing runway occupancy times at Sydney, and possibly other major airports, to determine expected runway occupancy times for different types of aircraft and conditions,” Godley noted.
