JetBlue plane set to take off for Puerto Rico bumps into another plane on ground at JFK Airport
QUEENS, New York (WABC) -- A JetBlue flight at JFK Airport bumped into another plane in the gate area Wednesday morning.
Officials say the incident happened with Flight 1603, scheduled to depart to San Juan at 6 a.m., which took off at 7:50 a.m.
The plane set to take off for Puerto Rico struck the tail of another JetBlue plane with no one inside.
Flight 1603 went back to the gate and was taken out of service. The flight took off once all passengers boarded a different plane.
Officials say no one was injured, but the FAA will investigate the incident.
The incident comes just days after an alarming incident when two passenger planes nearly collided at JFK.
An air traffic controller saw what was about to happen and had one of the pilots stop their plane. The NTSB and FAA are both investigating that incident.
"When you have bumping aircraft on the ground, that's not critical unless you're bumping into a fuel truck," said retired pilot Jay Tristani.
Tristani flew for more than four decades.
"If you're talking about runway incursions, that's extremely serious," Tristani said.
Runway incursions at the New York City area airports were down from 2021 to 2022, but across the country, reports increased the past two years with 1,574 in 2021 and 1,732 last year.
"It is surprising, it could be due to the increase in traffic at the commercial airports, that's really the only explanation I have behind it," said Jessica Fisher, CEO of Flyjets.
ALSO READ | NTSB investigating as 2 passenger airplanes nearly collide at JFK airport
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