American Airlines planes bump wings at Washington airport

An American Airlines plane carrying at least three members of the United States Congress has been struck on the taxiway by the wingtip of another American Airlines jet at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says.

American Airlines Flight 5490, a Bombardier CRJ 900 headed to Charleston, South Carolina, struck American Flight 4522, an Embraer E175 headed to New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport, about 12:45pm (16:45 GMT) on Thursday, the FAA said. No injuries were reported.

Representative Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, said on social media that he was on the flight to New York when the incident occurred while waiting to take off on the runway.

The latest mishap at Reagan National will intensify scrutiny over how air traffic is handled at the airport just outside Washington, DC, which has the single busiest US runway.

The FAA will investigate. American Airlines said both aircraft taxied to the terminal and were taken out of service to be inspected by maintenance teams. The damage was limited to a winglet on each aircraft.

(Aljazeera)