2 planes collide at Rhode Island airport as Southwest Airlines investigates ‘incident’

Southwest Airlines is investigating after two of its planes crashed into one another at a Rhode Island airport.

News broke that something had happened on the runway after a passenger posted what looked like an image of a jet with a clipped wing on an evening against the night sky.

The accompanying to the text read on the X post: “My flight was delayed like 6 hours and then they hit a PARKED plane trying to leave.”

Another person claimed: “Happening now! A Southwest Boeing B737-8H4 aircraft (N8525S) hit another Southwest B737 aircraft (parked) and clipped its (own) winglet while taxiing at Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD) moments ago. The aircraft was operating flight SWA3515 from Providence."

Now, the airline has announced it has launched an investigation into the matter, which allegedly took place at the T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick, RI, yesterday (June 11).

According to The Post, Southwest Airlines said it’s ‘aware of an incident involving two of our aircraft.’

It added: “We are investigating further and will be thoroughly inspecting the two aircraft. In the meantime, we have reaccommodated the affected Customers. Nothing is more important to Southwest Airlines than the Safety of our Employees and our Customers.”

According to the outlet, one of the planes was due to leave Providence at 4:25 pm yesterday evening to arrive at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC, as reported by X account FL360Aero.

According to SimpleFlying, not only did the planes collide, but they were both heavily delayed.

Local news channel WCVB, reported that the ground collision saw Southwest Airlines flight WN3515 push back as it prepared to take off prior to accidentally clipping its wingtip with another’s tail.

10 WJAR has since noted that allegedly, passengers were aware of the incident before the crew and had to shout until the damage was noticed.

Following the collision, both aircraft returned to the airport terminal building, and their flights were canceled and scheduled to a later date.

But thankfully, no injuries were noted to have occurred.

Collisions on the runway are rare, however, they have happened, with the consequences being a lot worse than this.

For example, the Tenerife airport disaster is probably the worst in history, after two Boeing 747 passenger airplanes in the Canary Islands crashed on March 27, 1977. The incident killed 583 people, which means it is the deadliest aviation accident of all time.

UNILAD reached out to Southwest Airlines for comment.