BA probes runway collision

BRITISH Airways was yesterday investigating a runway collision involving one of its jumbo jets and another packed passenger plane.

Members of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch were also looking into the incident at Heathrow Airport between a BA Boeing 747 and a SriLankan Airlines Airbus A340.

Passengers described how the Airbus hit the BA plane from behind, “chopping off a bit of wing”, in the incident at about 10.10pm on Monday. Nobody was hurt.

It is thought the Boeing plane, flight BA011, which was bound for Singapore with 328 passengers on board, was stationary.

The Airbus was heading for Colombo in Sri Lanka and was carrying 286 passengers and crew.

A BA spokesman said yesterday: “Our engineers are inspecting the plane and we are continuing to look into the incident.”

A spokeswoman for SriLankan Airlines said it was “a minor incident involving a British Airways aircraft when taxiing to the runway at Heathrow”.

All the passengers involved in the incident were due to be flown out of Heathrow last night.