Two Qantas Boeing 737-800 Aircraft Collide on Tarmac at Perth Airport

Two Qantas Boeing 737-800 aircraft lightly collided on the ground at Perth Airport (PER) on March 3. One aircraft was pulling into its gate while the other was stationary.

Collision in Perth

The incident occurred shortly after 9:00 p.m. local time. One aircraft had landed from Canberra (CBR) and was taxiing into the gate when it suddenly clipped the neighboring 737. Qantas noted that the arriving 737 approached the gate at a low speed when contact occurred. The slight impact sent a "jolt" through the cabin of the stationary 737, which had arrived minutes earlier and was in the process of disembarking passengers.

No passengers or crew were harmed in this incident. Qantas' flight QF 857 was the arriving flight, operated by a Boeing 737-800 registered VH-XZP. The stationary aircraft was VH-VZW, which had arrived from Brisbane (BNE) as QF 939.

A Qantas spokesperson said about the incident:

"When approaching the gate at low speed, the wingtip of one aircraft has come into contact with the wingtip of another stationary aircraft at the adjacent gate. Customers and crew who were disembarking the stationary aircraft felt a jolt when the wingtips made contact. After assessing the situation, the captain advised customers to continue to disembark as usual."

The spokesperson further noted that engineers were inspecting both aircraft and that an investigation was being launched into how this error occurred. While the exact cause is still being investigated, Aviation Safety Network noted that ADS-B data suggested that QF 857 may have followed the wrong markings. The data hints that QF 857 followed the markings for stand 18A, typically used by widebody jets like Airbus A330s and Boeing 787s. 

When looking at the Perth Airport apron, stand 18 appears to be the correct parking position for narrowbody jets like the 737. Usually, one widebody stand takes up the same space as two narrowbody stands. Therefore, as QF857 was incorrectly pulling into stand 18A, there was not enough space between it and QF939. As such, the collision occurred between the two planes.

Previous Related Incidents

This incident involving two Qantas 737s is another addition to the ever-growing list of aviation mishaps in 2024. Such incidents have brought into question what exactly is going on in the industry. This is because it is not only ground collisions that have increased recently but also runway incursions. However, it should be noted that the incident does not mean that Qantas is an unsafe airline or that aviation overall is dangerous.

Aviation remains one of the safest forms of transport today. As for Qantas, it is one of the safest airlines in the world. However, this past year, the Australian flag carrier lost its top spot to neighboring flag carrier Air New Zealand. Qantas losing the top ranking for World's Safest Airline has been attributed to its fleet's overall age, which is not very old. The carrier only lost to Air New Zealand by a very slim margin of just 1.5 points, as shown in the AirlineRatings annual list.