On Tuesday morning, September 10th, a jet aircraft belonging to Delta Air Lines collided with another aircraft on a taxiway at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, breaking the tail of the smaller plane.
Delta Air Lines stated that around 10:07 a.m., the wing of an Airbus A350, flight number DL295 bound for Tokyo Haneda Airport, made contact with the tail of an Endeavor Air CRJ-900, flight number DL5526 bound for Lafayette, Louisiana, on a neighboring taxiway.
Delta Air Lines confirmed that the regional jet’s tail and the A350’s wing sustained damage in the collision.
The A350 bound for Tokyo was carrying 221 passengers, while the flight to Lafayette had 56 passengers on board.
Photos obtained and shared by CNN on social media show the vertical tail of flight DL5526 separated from the rest of the aircraft, with airport rescue vehicles on either side.
Endeavor Air is a regional airline based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.
Delta Air Lines announced that passengers from both aircraft have been safely returned to the terminal and alternate flights are being arranged for them.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) public information indicates that the taxiway involved in the incident has been closed, along with several adjacent taxiways.
The aviation regulatory body stated that an investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.
Delta Air Lines mentioned that they are cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other agencies to investigate the incident further. The airline’s TechOps team is preparing to safely move the two aircraft to maintenance facilities.
Delta Air Lines confirmed that there were no injuries reported on either of the aircraft involved in the collision.