Delta Air Lines said on Tuesday the wing of one of its planes struck a regional jet while taxiing for departure at Atlanta airport, damaging both aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate the incident that occurred at the intersection of two taxiways around 10:10 a.m. ET.
A number of near miss and runway incursion incidents last year raised concerns about U.S. aviation safety and the strain on understaffed air traffic control, prompting the National Transportation Safety Board to call for more technology to prevent collisions.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said earlier at an industry conference on Tuesday that the agency has deployed technologies at some airports that provides an alert if an aircraft is lined up on the wrong runway or on a taxiway.
"We've started to deploy pretty simple off the shelf solution for controllers to get better situational awareness," Whitaker said saying close calls were down by more than half in the first half of the year. "So there's progress, but we need to get better. There's no excuse for that happening."