A Cathay Pacific airplane takes off from the third runway at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong on Nov 25, 2022. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)

Hong Kong’s largest air carrier Cathay Pacific confirmed on Tuesday night that one of its planes parked at the New Chitose Airport in Sapporo, Japan with no passengers or crew aboard was struck by a Korean Air aircraft earlier in the day.

The Cathay aircraft was struck by a taxiing Airbus 330 aircraft of Korean Air, the airline said in a written reply to China Daily.

The New Chitose Airport announced on Tuesday that it is experiencing flight delays and cancellations due to heavy snow. At least 60 flights had been cancelled as of 7pm, Tuesday

Cathay said flight CX583 from Sapporo to Hong Kong will not operate as scheduled because of the incident. Most affected passengers will board another Cathay flight later on Tuesday, while the remaining passengers will resume their travel on Wednesday, the airline said.

The incident happened at 5:30 pm when a towing car, which was pushing the Korean Air plane backwards ahead of departure, slipped due to snow on the ground, leading the airplane's left wing to clip the Cathay Pacific plane's right tail wing, a Korean Air official said. 

All 289 people on the Korean Air flight are safe, Japanese media reported.

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The New Chitose Airport announced on Tuesday that it is experiencing flight delays and cancellations due to heavy snow. At least 60 flights had been cancelled as of 7 pm, Tuesday, according to the airport’s website.

With Reuters inputs