Two airplanes collided with each other on the taxiway at Dubai International Airport (DXB) early on Thursday morning. There were no injuries, but the two narrowbody aircraft sustained minor damages with significant delays for passengers as a result. The cause of the incident, which forced the airport to shut one of its runways for a couple of hours, is still unknown.

Single-aisle jets with minor damages

The aircraft involved were a Boeing 737-800 from native low-cost carrier flydubai on its way to Kyrgyzstan and a jet from Bahraini flag carrier Gulf Air. The latter has not officially announced the type of aircraft affected by the collision. However, the only Gulf Air jet scheduled for departure from Dubai that has not taken off was an Airbus A321neo, registered as A9C-NC, which left the gate at 23:55 to taxi towards the runway.

The airline did confirm to Al Arabiya that the tail of the aircraft involved was impacted by a plane from another airline. It also said was working to reconnect all the passengers to their final destination. A Gulf Air A320neo took off from DXB towards Manama in Bahrain at 08:15.

Gulf Air confirmed the incident to local media.

Gulf Air A321neo
The only Gulf Air jet scheduled for departure at the time of the incident was an Airbus A321neo. Photo: Gulf Air

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FZ1461 to Bishkek

Meanwhile, flydubai has confirmed one of its Boeing 737-800s sustained damage to the wingtip from the impact. The flight was originally scheduled to depart at 22:45 on Wednesday. Passengers were transferred to a flight that departed at 08:46 this morning. A spokesperson for the airline shared the following statement,

"flydubai flight FZ 1461 from Dubai International (DXB) to Bishkek International Airport (FRU) has returned to stand on 22 July due to a minor incident involving one of our Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft and another aircraft on the taxi way." 

The carrier also added that it apologized for any inconvenience caused and that it would work together with the authorities to investigate the incident.

DXB had to close one of its two runways for a couple of hours due to the collision. Photo: Dubai International Airport

Runway closure but no further disruption

Dubai International Airport, one of the world's busiest pre-pandemic, said the incident forced it to shut down one of its two runways for two hours. However, this had no significant impact on operations, likely due to the collision occurring in the middle of the night.

We have scoured social media for direct footage of the incident or resulting damage, but there was still none to be found at the time of publication. Should you discover any, please point us in the right direction.

Have you ever experienced an incident between two planes, or perhaps a ground support vehicle, at the airport? What happened? How quickly was it resolved? Leave a comment below and tell us about it.