A Condor plane, which covers the Palma-Frankfurt route, and another Air Europa plane, which were manoeuvring on the ground, collided this morning on a runway at Palma’s Son Sant Joan airport.
The incident occurred at around 9.00 am and caused a wing of the Air Europa plane to break off, no injuries have been reported.
The collision occurred when the Air Europa plane, which had been flying the Barcelona-Palma route, was arriving at the terminal and collided with the rear of the Condor plane, which was apparently at a standstill.
The Air Europa plane then continued on to the terminal and the passengers were able to disembark normally.
However, according to company sources, the plane will need "a bit of refurbishment" as the left winglet was affected, although not completely broken.
One of the passengers on the Palma-Frankfurt flight told Última Hora how they experienced the incident: “We heard a loud noise as the plane braked before impact. Fortunately there were no injuries and everyone reacted normally,” one of the Condor passengers said of his experience when the Condor and Air Europa planes collided on the tarmac at Palma Airport this morning.
The German airline’s plane, bound for Frankfurt, was at a standstill when the Air Europa plane, which was manoeuvring after having landed from Barcelona, collided with the rear of the plane, which caused a winglet to break off its wing.
“The truth is that we noticed the incident because of the noise of the braking. Nobody got nervous and there were no panic scenes,” said the passenger.
“Emergency teams immediately came to examine the plane and asked all the passengers to wait inside the cabin. Shortly afterwards, we were taken by bus to the terminal and everything passed off normally.”
The Cóndor plane bound for Frankfurt was due to leave at 9.15am and was delayed until 10.30am but eventually according to AENA sources, both the Palma-Frankfurt (Condor) and Palma-Barcelona (Air Euopa) flights have been cancelled.
Several emergency teams were sent to the scene of the incident to examine the crashed aircraft. AENA is investigating the causes.
The Civil Aviation Accidents and Incidents Investigation Commission (CIAIAC), attached to the Under-Secretariat of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, is the official body responsible for investigating civil aviation accidents and incidents that occur in Spanish territory.
Its work is of an exclusively technical nature, focused on the prevention of future accidents and incidents. Its aim is not to point the finger at the guilty parties or those responsible (if there are any), but to prevent such events from happening again in the future.
The results of the investigations carried out by the commission are recorded in a report that includes information on the facts related to the accident or incident, an analysis of these facts, conclusions and recommendations for safety improvements. The CIAIAC has its own staff and adequate means for the development of its activity, but it also makes use of the occasional collaboration of external organisations and specialists.