July 22 (UPI) — No one was injured when two Southwest Airlines planes collided in the gate area at Nashville International Airport.
While pushing back from the gates, one plane’s wing clipped the other around 8:15 p.m., according to the airline in a statement obtained by CNN. The planes were able to return to the gates on their own.
The wing of Flight 1555, headed to St. Louis, “came into contact” with the wing of Flight 4580, which was bound for Atlanta, the airline said in the statement.
A photo from the incident shows the “S” ripped from the top of a winglet, according to a passenger.
Welcome to Crashville. Got stuck waiting on a plane at BNA due to weather on the way back to Atlanta. We finally pull back and they crash the plane into another plane. Took the S right off. What’s going on @SouthwestAir #Crashville #outhwest #Letsgo
Both jets were taken out of service and new planes were utilized for those flights’ destinations. The flight to St. Louis was two hours, 13 minutes late, and the one to Atlanta arrived three hours, 48 minutes past scheduled arrival, according to Flightstats.
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident, WKRN-TV reported.
Southwest Airlines accounted for a 54 percent share of the airport’s total passenger movements between October 2017 and September 2018, according to Airline Network News & Analysis. More than 8.1 million customers were transported to/from the airport by the airline during this period.
Nashville’s airport is served by 12 airlines and three cargo carriers with 450 flights daily to more than 50 nonstop markets.
