An Akasa Air aircraft and a SpiceJet plane suffered damage when they came in contact at Delhi airport on Thursday afternoon, prompting aviation watchdog DGCA to begin a probe, according to officials.

Both Boeing 737 aircraft have been grounded at the airport. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said an air traffic controller and the SpiceJet pilots have been derostered pending investigation.

The officials said the Akasa Air aircraft was stationary on the taxiway and preparing for take off, while the SpiceJet plane was taxiing towards the parking stand when the incident happened around 2.15pm at Terminal 1.

Akasa Air’s plane was to operate flight QP 1406 from Delhi to Hyderabad, while the SpiceJet aircraft had arrived from Leh after operating the flight SG 124, they added.

The DGCA said the winglet of SpiceJet’s Boeing 737-700 aircraft, while taxiing in the allocated parking bay, hit the horizontal tail surface (HTS) of the Akasa plane that was positioned on the apron after the pushback.

“Due to impact, the RH winglet of the SpiceJet aircraft and the HTS of the Akasa Air aircraft were damaged. The DGCA is carrying out further investigation,” the regulator said in a statement.

Akasa Air said its aircraft had to return to the bay. Preliminary information indicates that the Akasa aircraft was stationary when the other airline’s aircraft made contact with it, Akasa said in a statement. Akasa said all passengers and crew had safely disembarked. “In line with established protocols, the relevant authorities have been informed, and the matter is under investigation,” it added.

SpiceJet said its aircraft was involved in a ground occurrence while taxiing at Delhi airport, resulting in damage to its right winglet and the left-hand horizontal stabiliser of another aircraft belonging to a different airline.