travelling-blogger

comments

A Thai AirAsia plane hit a bird yesterday - causing social media confusion that it had been in collision with another aircraft.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 151 passengers from Bangkok to southern Nakhon Si Thammarat, hit the bird - the Thai word for which is 'nok', sparking fears there had been an incident with budget carrier Nok Air.

Within hours of the collision, Nok Air went to Twitter to set the story straight.

Social confusion: Ground staff check for the readiness of passenger planes of Nok Air, front, and Air Asia

It issued a statement, saying: 'We would like to clarify that Nok Air did not clip another aircraft today.'

It added: 'The other aircraft suffered a bird (real ones) strike.'

The Thai AirAsia plane landed safely Wednesday morning but the impact left 'a scratch' on the edge of the left wing, Thai AirAsia said in a statement.

The airline's chief engineer, Banyat Hansakul, described the damage as a small hole in the wing.

Engineers inspected and repaired the wing before the aircraft returned to Bangkok after a three-hour delay, the airline said.