The incident occurred when an inbound WestJet flight from Cancun, Mexico, carrying 168 passengers and a crew of six was stationary and waiting to park at a gate. As it waited, it was struck by a Sunwing aircraft, which was pushing back from a gate.
Video footage from on board the WestJet aircraft shows flames on the wing of the Sunwing plane.
After the collision, Fire and Emergency Services extinguished the small fire on the Sunwing aircraft and the passengers were evacuated from the Westjet aircraft using the emergency slides. Some subsequent flights at Terminal 3 were affected by the incident.
No passengers were injured but the airport has said that a firefighter was taken to hospital and treated for injuries sustained in the incident. The person has since been released from hospital.
“Due to the position of the aircraft on the laneway, WestJet guests required evacuation via emergency slide. Emergency crews were on hand and responded immediately,” Westjet said in a statement.
Sunwing reported that its aircraft was being towed by its ground handling agent at the time of the accident and no crewmembers or passengers were on board.
The Canadian Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.
