United Airlines has confirmed that two of its planes collided with one another on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in New York.
The New York Post first reported the Friday mishap, which involved a Chicago-bound plane making contact with another aircraft that was set to be taking off for Houston.
Flight 580 clipped the tail of Flight 434, which was stationary on the runway at the time, according to United.
After the the collision, they both returned to the gate, where passengers were able to disembark normally, United told the Daily Mail in a statement.
No injuries were reported among the combined 328 passengers and 15 crew members on the two planes.
‘We all felt a bump during taxi to the runway but didn’t know it was another plane until the captain said it was,’ a passenger who declined to give their name told The Post.
Photos from the scene show there were numerous emergency vehicles on the tarmac after the collision.
Maintenance crews are in the process of evaluating the damage to the plane that was hit to make sure there aren’t any malfunctions.
Two United Airlines planes collided with one another at LaGuardia Airport on Friday, the airline confirmed to the Daily Mail
The incident came as right as the government shutdown dragged into its 31st day. Because the shutdown is leading to staffing shortages among air traffic controllers, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby (pictured at the White House on Thursday) and other airline executives all support passing the Republican plan to reopen the government
This comes as New York City-area airports have been plagued by strong winds. Earlier in the night, LaGuardia grounded planes due to the intense winds, which had reached 45mph.
Airports all around the country are also dealing with a rising number of delays and cancellations because of staffing shortages driven by the government shutdown, which has now officially stretched on for a month.
The Houston-bound plane that was clipped had been on a 90-minute delay.
The CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, went to the White House on Thursday along with the chief executives of Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines to publicly support the passage of the Republican bill to open the government.
‘It’s putting stress on the economy,’ Kirby told reporters, adding that the shutdown is impacting bookings. ‘It is time to pass a clean CR.’
Around 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay, which in recent days, has led to a surge in them calling out sick.
According to data from FlightAware, there were 5,764 delays for flights within, into, or out of the United States on Thursday.
