A collision at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport has rendered two aircraft out of operation. A South African Airways aircraft being towed into a parking bay on Friday clipped a FlySafair plane as it passed. No passengers were onboard either aircraft at the time of impact, and both planes were taken in for maintenance.

According to South African low-cost airline FlySafair, the aircraft was parked at gate C2 when the incident occurred. The SAA aircraft disengaged from the tow bar of a tow truck after it reportedly broke, causing the South African Airways Airbus A320 to veer off and hit the parked FlySafair Boeing 737-800.

Photos of the incident show significant damage to the A320's's empennage (tail) section and the 737's's wingtip. The aircraft has been sent to maintenance while assessors investigate the incident, and the plane becomes serviceable again. The airline confirmed to local news outlets that the airline sent a replacement to avoid disruption:

"The aircraft was parked and not in commission when the aft (rear) section was struck by the wingtip of an SAA Airbus A320, which was being towed into the parking bay alongside.

"At this stage, the airline does not foresee any interruption to scheduled operations. A backup aircraft has been deployed to ensure all flights depart on time."

The airline recently rolled out a fresh livery design on its fleet of Boeing 737s. The rebrand added a second, darker blue stripe on the tail, which does not appear on the recently injured aircraft above (ZS-SJH).

SAA sends backup

The South African Airways aircraft involved in the incident has now been towed from the ramp to maintenance facilities for repairs. The Airbus A320 arrived at 22:50 on Friday after operating a flight from Cape Town, two hours after its FlySafair counterpart. South African Airways confirmed in a statement that the aircraft, registration ZS-SZJ, was out of operation while mechanics assessed the damage, and the airline arranged replacement flights.

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Due to the incident, the airline canceled today's early afternoon flight SA357 from Johannesburg to Cape Town and its return leg (SA372). Passengers are being rebooked on a subsequent pair of evening flights (SA359/374) with the same airline. South African Airways also ungauged this morning's Johannesburg-Cape Town service to an Airbus A330-300 (ZS-SXM) to accommodate affected travelers.

A spokesperson for South African Airways confirmed the aircraft is in maintenance and will only return to operations once the airline is satisfied of its airworthiness.

UPDATE: 2022/11/12 18:38 EST BY JONATHAN E. HENDRY

Statement from South African Airways executive chairperson and CEO John Lamola:

"This is truly an unfortunate development as this takes out the seat capacity of two aircraft, an SAA A320 and a FlySafair B737, out of the market at a time when our passengers are experiencing higher ticket prices due to limited aircraft availability on our domestic market."

"My colleague at FlySafair and I are committed to taking extraordinary steps at ensuring that both the aircraft are brought back to service as soon as possible.”

Airports Company South Africa General Manager Jabu Khambule confirmed the incident occurred when a plane that was being towed disengaged from the tow bar and struck another parked aircraft and that no passengers or members of staff were injured in the incident. Both the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have been notified.

Growth for SAA

South African Airways recently announced the addition of more routes to its network in time for the holidays. SAA will launch flights to Blantyre and Lilongwe in Malawi, Windhoek in Namibia, and Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe. The airline also confirmed plans are underway to launch SAA's first intercontinental route since restarting during the first quarter of 2023.

Source: news24