Plane crash in Melbourne, no big deal, just two jetliners

It's a sour start to any holiday: backing up the vehicle only to prang into another with the resulting bill - $3 million.

That's how a Virgin Australia planeload of 175 passengers bound for Maroochydore started their journey when the plane was manoeuvred out of its gate and collided with an empty Jetstar plane on Saturday morning.

The incident occurred at Melbourne Airport when the Virgin jet was being pushed back on the tarmac in preparation for takeoff about 9.30am.

Paul Cousins, president of the engineers' union, said the Virgin aircraft was pushed back to such an extent that the end of its left-hand wing cut off the tail cone of the Jetstar A320. And, mirroring a conversation regularly heard in car parks across the world, Jetstar and Virgin Australia had two versions of events.

A Jetstar statement said its aircraft was stationary when the collision occurred. Virgin initially reported that both planes were moving but stressed it was still investigating.
Damage to the Jetstar plane.

Mr Cousins estimated the damage bill to be up to $3 million.

[link to www.smh.com.au]