A Cathay Pacific plane parked at New Chitose Airport in Sapporo was “struck” by a Korean Air aircraft on Tuesday, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier has said.

“Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers nor crew onboard, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past,” the airline said in a statement on Tuesday.

Cathay Pacific plane grounded travel airplane
Cathay Pacific planes at Hong Kong International Airport. File Photo: GovHK.

Flight CX 583, which was scheduled to leave the capital of Japan’s mountainous northern island Hokkaido at 5.10 pm, Japan time, and land in Hong Kong at 9.55 pm, was subsequently cancelled.

“The majority of our customers will be protected onto another Cathay Pacific service today, with the remainder travelling with us tomorrow. We extend our apologies to the affected customers,” Cathay Pacific said.

Reuters cited a Korean Air official as saying that the accident happened when the Korean Air plane was preparing to take-off. No injuries were reported, Japanese broadcaster NTV said.

The incident occurred just weeks after five were killed in a collision between a Japan Airlines flight a coast guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on January 2.

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Mercedes is a British journalist who has been based in Hong Kong since 2012. At Hong Kong Free Press, she has covered a number of local environmental issues, including climate inequality and marine biodiversity, and explored how Hong Kong's arts scene reflects a changing city. She has contributed to the Guardian and BBC Travel, and previously worked at the South China Morning Post, where she wrote a weekly column about the social and environmental impact of tourism in Asia.