A Thai Airways Airbus A330 decapitated the tail of a private jet at Vientiane Airport in Laos last night. Both aircraft had to remain on the scene, with neither (especially the private jet) being able to perform their scheduled services. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

What are the details?

A Thai Airways Airbus A330 (tail number HS-TEU) had just pulled back from the ramp and was about to take off for flight TG575 (from Vientiane, Laos to Bangkok, Thailand) when during the taxi it nudged a parked Gulfstream jet.

Actually, nudged would not be an accurate word for what occurred. The wingtip of the A330 completely ripped off the top of the Gulfstream's tail, utterly destroying its flight capability and potentially pushing the total damages into the millions.

It is unknown at this stage how this even occurred, but looking at the Gulfstream you can see that it looks like it got quite the haircut. Fortunately, it doesn't appear that anyone has been hurt or any of the damage is unrepairable (although Simple Flying invites any aircraft engineers to write in the comments with their professional opinions).

Another angle of the damage can be seen here.

The Airbus A330 didn't escape unscathed, but actually clipped its wingtip and left quite a dent. The aircraft had to be inspected by ground crews and then all passengers disembarked from the aircraft. It is unknown if anyone was on board the private jet, but as it was remotely parked at night it was likely not in use.

The Thai Airways A330 will require extensive repairs before it can be operational again for the airline.

A Gulfstream IV costs around $34 million USD on the open market, and if a court finds that Thai Airways is responsible (which may be the case, judging from the photos), it will likely be required to compensate the owner. This is an expensive mistake that came at the worst time for the airline as it suffers through lack of demand due to the coronavirus. 

What is it like to fly on a Thai Airways Airbus A330?

Thai Airways actually operates two different Airbus A330s, one for regional travel (the most common) and one for long-haul routes. The former was involved in the above incident and the latter of which has a more modern interior.

The regional version of the A330 has two classes with a total of 299 seats on board. Business class, called 'Royal Silk', features 36 recliner seats (not lie-flat) in a 2-2-2 configuration. This means that there is no privacy nor direct aisle access for each seat, but they do provide 58 inches of seat pitch. The new version of the aircraft corrects these mistakes.

The economy cabin features 263 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration with 32 inches of seat pitch and is 18 inches wide.

What do you think of this news? Is Thai Airways to blame? Let us know in the comments.