Copa Airlines, UPS planes collide on Miami airport taxiway, two injured

Two passenger and cargo aircraft collided on a taxiway at Miami International Airport on Saturday night, leaving two people with minor injuries, in an incident that comes amid widespread disruption to US air travel following a nationwide ground stop a day earlier.

The wingtip of a Copa Airlines Boeing 737 struck the nose of a UPS Boeing 767 at around 9 pm (local time), The New York Times reported, citing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The agency is investigating the incident.

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Two people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, while airport operations continued without disruption as flights were redirected to other taxiways, Greg Chin, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, told the newspaper.

According to the report, air traffic controllers had instructed the UPS crew to give way to the Copa aircraft. The Copa flight, which had arrived from Panama City, was taxiing towards its gate, while the UPS aircraft was moving towards the runway for a departure to Bogota, Colombia.

The two planes made contact at the intersection of two taxiways, Chin said, as reported by The New York Times.

The collision comes a little over two months after another serious aviation incident at the same airport, when an Amazon cargo jet overran a runway, struck two vehicles and killed five people. A federal report into that incident found that an air traffic controller had failed to alert the pilots to windy conditions while clearing the aircraft to land, according to the newspaper.

Also Read: Amazon Prime cargo plane crash: At least 5 killed after aircraft overruns runway and strikes multiple vehicles on ground in Miami

Saturday's incident also unfolded against the backdrop of significant disruption to air travel across the United States. Thousands of flights were cancelled on Saturday as airlines worked to reposition aircraft and crews following a rare nationwide ground stop on Friday.

Federal officials attributed Friday's disruption to communications failures triggered by an upgrade to air traffic control telecommunications equipment, The New York Times reported.