There were no injuries after two passenger airplanes clipped wings at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport but questions are being raised about whether a labour dispute contributed to the incident.
An outbound LOT Polish Airlines plane and an inbound Air Canada flight touched wings at the gate around 10:20 p.m. on Saturday, according to Peel Regional Police.
The Air Canada Rouge flight had arrived from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and was parking when the incident occurred.
The Transportation Safety Board is still investigating and a representative told CP24 that it could be a few days before they determine the next steps. Police say no charges were laid.
A representative for the Teamsters Local 419 union that represents the grounds crew and baggage handlers at the airport says the ongoing strike by Swissport International Ltd. employees may have played a role.
Harjinder Badial, vice-president of Teamsters Local 419, told CP24 that since the strike began, many temporary workers have been hired to fill unionized jobs, including the “wing-walker” position. Wing-walkers are in charge of watching for when the wings of the aircraft are moving.
“We know the company has been hiring more temp workers, giving them two hours of training and putting them on live flights,” said Bardial. “If they were trained properly this hopefully wouldn’t have occurred.”
Swissport, however, defended its temporary workers, saying that the LOT plane was properly parked and that the company provides standardized safety and job-specific training.
"We regret that the union is using this incident to suggest otherwise and are confident that the TSB investigation will demonstrate that our staff was operating according to procedure,” Pierre Payette, Swissport’s vice president of operations for Toronto, said in a statement.
Passengers described a hectic scene.
“We just saw firefighters rushing in and they told us to go back to the check-in area and then there was chaos for like a good two hours,” LOT passenger Reza Hadisi told CTV Toronto.
The LOT flight Hadisi was on was cancelled and passengers had to rebook their flights. Many planned to depart Sunday night.
But with hotels in Toronto sold out for the Caribbean Carnival weekend, out-of-town passengers were bussed to a hotel in Kitchener, Ont.
“I’m pretty angry,” LOT passenger Artem Khizhnyak told CTV Toronto. “Now I am missing 48 hours of my vacation.”
Arianna Silecky was forced to spend a night without her luggage, which contained precious cargo: expensive equipment to teach Ukrainian orphans archery.
“It was shocking -- I didn’t think that could happen,” Silecky said in an interview with CTV Toronto. “I’m tired, but I’m excited for tonight’s departure -- with wings.”
With files from CTV Toronto, CP24 and The Canadian Press.
