The incident took place in LKPR, between a LUFTHANSA flight DLH5NC and SUN EXPRESS flight SXS5663.

Operation took place in the morning rush hours. The Lufthansa flight DLH5NC , an Airbus A321-131 , began taxiing at 08:26:21 from the stand 17 on TWYs H, F, E following ATS instructions.

The A321-131 crew stopped at the crossing TWY F and TWY E and after a short hold (ca 5 seconds) went a little bit farther on TWY E.

The A321-131 nose was more than 34.5 m behind the A320 that was standing in front of it at the RWY 06 holding point. On TWY E the A321-131 crew reported “ready at sequence” at 08:31:40.

At 08:34:45 an airplane CRJ-200 taxiing on TWY F to RWY 06 holding point passed behind the A321-131 (see report, Scheme 1). The distance between the CRJ-200 wing tip and the A321-131 tail was ca 6 m.

The distance between the A320 and the A321-131 was established from a radar record of the S-SMGCS system.

LUFTHANSA/SUN EXPRESS flight DLH5NC/SXS5663

All of the schemes presented were processed in an Aero Turn program and the aircraft and the land infrastructure are in the same scale in this report.

At 08:28:50 Sun Express flight SXS5663 operated with a Boeing B737-8BK ,  on stand 2 asked for taxiing clearance. TWR-GEC cleared taxiing on TWYs A1, Z, H, and F to RWY 06 holding point.

At 08:37:04 the B737-8BK crew reported it could start from RWY 06 / TWY E intersection and stopped at TWY F on TWY FF level.

TWR-GEC issued an instruction, for operational reasons, “continue to the end please”.

At 08:37:40 the B737-8BK crew continued its further taxiing on TWY F toward THR RWY 06.

During this taxiing the Sun Express flight SXS5663 right winglet struck the stabiliser of the A321-131 standing on TWY E

After the collision the B737-8BK crew stopped. At 08:38:23 the B737- 8BK crew reported the event over the TWR-GEC frequency.

At 08:40:03 the A321-131 crew reported the collision with the B737-8BK over the TWR-TEC frequency and asked for return to the stand. TWR-TEC confirmed he had been already advised of the collision by the B737-8BK crew.

At 08:40:50 the TWR-MMP informed RPL dispatcher about “two airplanes having been “brushed against” each other on TWY E / TWY F intersection asking him to check the intersection for possible debris.

At 08:42:25 TWR-TEC cleared the A321-131 to taxi on RWY 06 back to the apron.

Main cause was identified as Human factor failure – the taxiing crew did not keep a safe separation distance of their airplane from the standing one.