Australia: Jetstar, Qatar Airways planes almost collide on Sydney Airport tarmac

Australia: 2 planes almost collide on Sydney Airport tarmac August 9, 2026Two passenger aircraft — a Jetstar and a Qatar Airways plane — came close to crashing into each other on the tarmac at Australia's busiest Sydney Airport on Sunday. A crew member was injured and the incident has triggered a probe by the country's safety regulators. What do we know about the near-miss collision? The Jetstar A320 was taxiing for takeoff to the Gold Coast in the state of Queensland when its flight crew saw the Qatar Airways Boeing 777 — which was being towed by an aircraft tug — in close proximity on a crossing taxiway, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said in a statement. "Both aircraft were stopped abruptly", the statement said, leading to a Jestar cabin crew member moving through the cabin being injured and the connection between the 777 nose gear and aircraft tug suffering damage. The injured crew member was treated by paramedics. How are Australian authorities handling the incident? The ATSB said that investigators were gathering data from both the planes, air traffic control, and interviewing crew and tug operators to determine the cause of the near collision. The regulator put out a call for witnesses at the airport to send in any visuals of the incident. Jetstar — which is a low-cost subsidiary of Australia's national carrier Qantas — said it was also conducting its own investigation. "Our aircraft was following instructions by Air Traffic Control when the pilots were forced to brake firmly after another aircraft came in close proximity," a Jetstar spokesperson said. There was no immediate statement from Qatar Airways, which is the flag carrier of Qatar. Meanwhile, flights at Sydney Airport were experiencing delays following the incident, government agency Airservices Australia said. Sunday's incident comes a day after Sydney Airport witnessed widespread delays sparked by Airservices Australia authorizing "departure spacing" due to roster issues with air traffic controllers. Edited by: Rana Taha