British Airways’ first Airbus A350 has collided with an Emirates Boeing 777 in Dubai today. It appears as though the A350 was being pushed back when it struck the Emirates aircraft.
British Airways’ Airbus A350s are some of the newest aircraft in the British flag carrier’s fleet. In fact, its first A350, G-XWBA, was delivered under a year ago in late July 2019. However, the aircraft won’t be flying for some days now as its horizontal stabilizer was damaged during a collision on the ground.
Dubai collision
Despite many British Airways aircraft being grounded, its oldest A350 has remained in the skies. In April alone it has flown to Toronto, Washington, Tel Aviv, and Dubai. However, it seems as though its stay in Dubai will last a little longer than planned.
Less than one year old, the Airbus A350 collided with an Emirates Boeing 777 on pushback. According to data from FlightRadar24.com, the aircraft had been pushing back to fly to London as BA106. This was due to depart from Dubai at 01:30, to arrive in London at 06:15. Simple Flying believes that this was being operated as a freight flight without any passengers.
However, while being pushed back, the aircraft’s horizontal stabilizer collided with that of an Emirates Boeing 777. The Emirates aircraft involved is A6-EBR. According to FlightRadar24.com, this 13-year-old aircraft last flew yesterday from Riyadh to Dubai.
It is unclear how much of a priority it will be to repair the two aircraft given the current global situation. Its unlikely either airline will miss the capacity in the near future. However, one would imagine that BA will be keen to repair its new(ish) aircraft in order to bring it back to London.
Regarding the incident a British Airways spokesperson told Simple Flying:
Safety is always our highest priority. The aircraft will be fully assessed before it is cleared to fly.
Meanwhile, an Emirates spokesperson told Simple Flying:
“We can confirm that early this morning (14 April), another airline’s aircraft made contact with a stationary Emirates aircraft at Dubai International airport. No one was injured. The incident is under investigation.”
About BA’s A350 fleet
The Airbus A350 is the youngest type in British Airways’ fleet. So far the airline has received five of the aircraft registered sequentially from G-XWBA to G-XWBE. The first four aircraft were delivered in 2019, with the most recent being delivered earlier this year. British Airways had intended to launch A350 services to the United States last month.
G-XWBA was delivered to the British flag carrier in July 2019 and was the first aircraft to feature the airline’s new Club Suite business class cabin. In early August, the aircraft took its maiden flight with passengers to Madrid. Simple Flying was lucky enough to be on that flight. You can read how we found the new Club Suite here!
What do you make of the collision in Dubai? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
