Terror for 300 passengers as two planes collide on runway at Manchester Airport

The 'rear-end' smash at Manchester Airport caused at least £4million of damage.

It ripped a 4ft slice of a wing tip off one of the planes and wrecked the rear tailplane of the other.

Lucky escape: The accident left one of the jets with a missing wing tip

On the scene: Emergency services quickly arrived to deal with the aftermath of the collision

No one was hurt in the crash, which happened in a 'bottleneck' as the aircraft queued to take off within five minutes of each other.

Investigators last night focused their inquiry on the actions of one of the pilots, who allegedly ignored advice not to proceed before hitting the plane in front.

Witnesses spoke of their shock as a Futura Boeing 737 carrying 180 passengers bound for Tenerife braked suddenly on the tarmac before hitting a static Lufthansa Airbus A320, carrying 108 passengers en route to Frankfurt.

A spokesman for Lufthansa said: 'Our flight was parked with the brake on the taxi-way. The Futura plane was coming from behind.

'We understand the pilot of the Futura plane was advised not to do this particular procedure and that it would not be a good decision.

'It has caused very serious structural-damage that will stretch to six figures and probably seven.'

Close call: Emergency services stand by after the two planes collided

Alistair Pearson, a former aircraft engineer on board the Futura flight, said the pilot suddenly started braking heavily.

'As he did that, we were looking out of the window and our wing fin struck the rear belly of the Lufthansa,' he added.

'It slashed the structure and ripped about 3ft to 4ft of the fin off of our wing tip.'

Asked how the passengers reacted, Mr Pearson said there was 'surprise and shock', but no panic.

'The feeling was mainly people's disappointment about knowing there was going to be a massive delay to their holidays,' he added.

Chris Kendall, 51, a military equipment dealer from Manchester, was on the Lufthansa flight.

He said: 'The plane was just taxiing ready for take-off when there was a loud bang coming from the wing. We all looked out of the windows and saw the cockpit of another plane just across from us.

'Its pilot had a look of shock and horror on his face. There wasn't any panic or screams on our plane, in fact if anything it was more a case of mild amusement.

'Then the captain came on to say there had been an incident and that we were all going to be taken off the aircraft again.'

Firemen recover a part of the wing tip broken in the collision

After the incident, passengers were taken back to the terminal to organise alternative planes.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has launched an inquiry, and a spokesman for NATS, which provides air traffic control at Manchester, said: 'It's the pilot's responsibility to remain clear of other aircraft when manoeuvring.'