Two planes clip wings at Washington airport; 2 freed hostages said to be passengers

WASHINGTON — An American Airlines AAL.O plane carrying at least three members of Congress at Reagan Washington National Airport was struck on the taxiway by the wingtip of another American Airlines jet, the Federal Aviation Administration says.

The Ynet news site reports released hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel were also on one of the planes.

American Airlines flight 5490, a Bombardier CRJ 900 headed to Charleston, South Carolina, struck American flight 4522, an Embraer E175 headed to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, around 12:45 p.m. ET (1645 GMT), the FAA says. No injuries are reported.

Representative Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, says on social media that he was on the flight to New York when the incident occurred while waiting to take off on the runway.

The latest mishap at Reagan National will intensify scrutiny over how air traffic is handled at the airport near Washington that has the single busiest US runway.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.