MILAN, Jan 13 — Italy’s ITA Airways said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into a ground collision involving one of its aircraft at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport — the second such incident in less than a year.
In a statement, the state-controlled airline said that on the night of Jan. 2 one of its planes hit the tail of another aircraft with the tip of its right wing, shortly after landing from Rome.
Nobody was injured, an ITA spokesperson said, adding passengers did not notice the impact.
Data from aviation tracking website FlightAware and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) indicated the planes involved were an ITA Airways Airbus 330 and a Bombardier operated by Delta.
In June last year, another ITA Airways Airbus 330 clipped an Air France Boeing 777 plane during taxiing for take-off at JFK airport, according to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network database.
The aircraft did not suffer any damage, took off normally and arrived safely at its destination in Rome.
The Italian airline, noting it fully respects all safety regulations, said in Thursday’s statement that “collisions during taxiing manoeuvres are an increasing phenomenon ... especially in highly congested airports like JFK.”
It added the plane involved in last week’s collision was now back in Rome, and said it had launched an internal inquiry “to reconstruct the circumstances (of the accident).” It pledged to promptly inform, and fully cooperate with, aviation authorities.
ITA, created in 2021, is the successor airline to Alitalia. Last month, the Italian government approved a decree setting the conditions for its sale, with Germany’s Lufthansa the frontrunner to take it over. — Reuters
