JetBlue plane bumps parked plane at JFK

A JetBlue plane on Wednesday bumped into a parked plane on the runway of John F. Kennedy National Airport, just days after two planes nearly crashed on the airport’s runway.

A JetBlue spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill that the plane, which was headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, came into “light contact” with an unoccupied plane as it headed to the runway. The spokesperson said no injuries were reported, the plane returned to the gate and the flight was assigned to a different aircraft.

“On Wednesday morning, JetBlue flight 1603 with scheduled service from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport (SJU), came into light contact with a parked unoccupied aircraft during pushback,” a Jetblue spokesperson said.

“Safety is JetBlue’s first priority, and both aircraft involved will be taken out of service for inspection and the incident will be investigated,” the spokesperson added.

The FAA said in a statement to The Hill that the JetBlue plane hit the tail of a parked aircraft and that they will investigate the incident.

“JetBlue Flight 1603 struck the tail of a parked JetBlue aircraft while pushing back from the gate around 7 a.m. at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York,” the statement reads. “The flight was going to Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Both aircraft were Airbus 320. No injuries were reported, and the FAA will investigate.”

The incident comes just days after two passenger planes nearly crashed on the JFK runway on Friday, and follows a series of issues the airline industry has faced in recent weeks, including an outage impacting the Federal Aviation Administration’s Notice to Air Missions system, which notifies flight hazards to commercial pilots nationwide. The near incident involving the two planes at JFK airport will also be investigated by the FAA.

Last month, a JetBlue flight at JFK was evacuated due to a smoking phone charger, causing emergency responders to respond and resulting in 5 injuries, according to an ABC 7 report.