TOKYO, Jan 16 (AFP): A Korean Air airliner "struck" a Cathay Pacific plane while taxiing at a Japanese airport on Tuesday, with both airlines saying there were no injuries.
The incident comes two weeks after a near-catastrophic collision at Tokyo's Haneda Airport when a Japan Airlines plane collided as it landed with a smaller coast guard plane.
Cathay Pacific said the accident on Tuesday took place while its aircraft was parked at New Chitose Airport serving Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido.
"Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers nor crew onboard, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past," the airline said in a statement.
Korean Air also confirmed there were no injuries on board its plane.
"A Korean Air aircraft came into contact with a Cathay aircraft during pushback at New Chitose (Sapporo) Airport when the third-party ground handler vehicle slipped due to heavy snow. There were no injuries and the airline is cooperating with all relevant authorities," the carrier said.
Neither airline gave information on the amount of damage done nor on the cause. The operator of the airport, Hokkaido Airports, was not immediately available for comment.
But Hong Kong-based Cathay said that its "flight CX583 from Sapporo to Hong Kong will not operate as scheduled."
Airport firefighters were on standby following the accident, but no oil leaks or fires had been confirmed, according to Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting.
The operator of the airport received a report of contact between the two passenger planes around 5:30 pm (0830 GMT), public Japanese broadcaster NHK said.
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