Japan Airlines plane strikes parked Delta plane at Sea-Tac Airport

A Japan Airlines plane taxiing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport struck a parked Delta Air Lines plane Wednesday morning.

The Japan Airlines plane’s right wing struck the tail of the Delta plane around 10:15 a.m. on a taxi line near the S Concourse. There were no injuries reported. There was minimal impact on airport operations, according to the Port of Seattle, though the Federal Aviation Administration said it temporarily paused some flights to the airport after the incident.

The Delta plane was preparing to be deiced before departing for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with 142 passengers on board, according to the airline. The Japan plane “made contact with the tail” of the Delta plane, a Boeing 737-800. Customers were being rebooked on a new plane.

The Japan Airlines plane, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, had landed from Tokyo shortly before the incident.

Japan Airlines didn’t respond to inquires Wednesday.

Brett Powers, 67, from La Conner, said the Japan Airlines flight had landed on time and was heading toward the S Gate at SeaTac when the pilot told passengers the gate they were slotted to taxi to was full. The pilot estimated they’d wait about 10 minutes before making another attempt to enter, Powers said.

Instead, the plane started taxiing a few minutes later. Then Powers heard someone start to scream.

He couldn’t make out what the passenger on the other aisle of the plane was yelling and assumed the passenger was having a medical emergency, he said.

Moments later, Powers felt a jolt. “It felt like the pilot had hit the brakes really hard,” Powers said.

Other than the initial yelling, Powers said passengers on board did not panic and that nobody appeared to be hurt. The cabin crew remained calm.

Powers had been flying back to Seattle after a three-and-a-half-week trip visiting Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries. He travels often, he said, and the bump on Wednesday didn’t make him more fearful of air travel.

Still, “that was a new one for me,” Powers said after deplaning Wednesday.

The FAA, which will investigate the incident, said the aircraft were in an area that is not under air traffic control.

Perry Cooper from the Port of Seattle said the FAA may notify the National Transportation Safety Board as it begins to investigate what caused the two planes to hit.

Cooper does not expect Wednesday morning’s snowy conditions led to the incident. At the time the two planes hit, the runway was bare and wet, he said.

The incident briefly slowed down air traffic at Sea-Tac but did not cause any major disruptions, Cooper said. By 1:08 p.m., both damaged aircraft had been removed. Cooper said the damage to the planes is significant.

Japan Airlines’ daily scheduled flight to Tokyo also was canceled Wednesday. Two passengers on the canceled Japan flight said they could see the chaos on the runway below them from the lounge but that the airlines had not told them what went wrong.

Japan Airlines originally told passengers that the flight was delayed, three passengers said. It took more than an hour for them to learn the flight had been canceled and those passengers said they first found out by looking it up online, rather than through communication from the airlines.

Later that morning, their tickets showed the flight had been canceled due to an aircraft rotation, according to two tickets shared with the Seattle Times.

Amy Fustino, 42, from Bremerton, was traveling to Japan for work and was frustrated Wednesday about the unexpected change of plans. She was able to rebook a flight for the next day but is now flying a different airline and to a different airport. That means she has to recoordinate travel when she lands and that her team is “going to have to pick up the slack” without her there.

She was frustrated that the airlines didn’t communicate that the flight had been canceled earlier. “I would have had more control about still being able to get out today,” Fustino said.

But she wasn’t rattled by the events on the runway. “I just feel like it’s par for the course at this point,” Fustino said.

She’s not worried about her flight tomorrow because “I’m going to change airlines.”

Josh Blaine, Troy Lian and Colin Hopper, all from the Seattle area, were traveling to Japan with a group of 10 high school friends for vacation.

When the flight was canceled, Japan Airlines told them it couldn’t help rebook unless they chose to do so through the airline’s website. Because the group had used different platforms to book, they scattered around the airport to talk with agents and wait on hold as they tried to secure a refund and new booking.

The three friends found out the flight had been canceled while they were waiting at the gate but said they couldn’t see or hear any indication that something went wrong.

“I’m surprised nobody noticed,” Hooper said.

The scene at the gate remained calm, even as all the passengers found out what had happened, the friends said. Instead of panic over the two jets hitting, there was panic over rebooking.