MONTREAL: Two jets collided on the ground at a Toronto airport on Friday, setting the tail of one aircraft alight and prompting passengers to evacuate the other via an emergency slide.
Both WestJet and Sunwing confirmed that their planes were involved in the collision at Toronto Pearson International, the second such incident at the airport in five months.
Video footage shared on social media appeared to show the tail of one aircraft aflame and spewing black smoke, and later images indicated that it was Sunwing’s plane.
“WestJet has confirmed that WS2425, a Boeing 737-800 with 168 guests and six crew onboard, inbound from Cancun to Toronto Pearson, while waiting to proceed to the gate and stationary, was struck by a Sunwing aircraft pushing back from the gate,” it said on its Twitter account.
“Due to the position of the aircraft on the laneway, WestJet guests required evacuation via emergency slide. Emergency crews were on hand and responded immediately,” the airline tweeted.
“We can confirm guests are safely in the terminal and they are in the process of clearing customs,” it said, without specifying whether or not there were injuries.
A post on the Sunwing Vacations Facebook page confirmed the collision.
“A Sunwing aircraft, under tow by our ground handling service provider, came into contact with another aircraft. There were no Sunwing crew or passengers onboard at the time of the incident,” it said.
Toronto Pearson said that “fire and emergency services have responded and passengers have been evacuated” following the incident, which “impacted” some flight operations at the airport’s Terminal Three.
The collision is the second such incident at Toronto Pearson in recent months.
In early August, a Canadian and a Polish passenger jet clipped wings on the ground at the airport, causing “serious” damage but no casualties.
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2 planes collide on the ground at Toronto’s airport
2 planes collide on the ground at Toronto’s airport
Tourists hit record in Japan, despite plunge from China
TOKYO: A record number of tourists flocked to Japan in 2025, officials said Tuesday, despite a steep fall in Chinese visitors in December as a diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo rumbled on.
Japan logged 42.7 million arrivals last year, according to the transport ministry, topping 2024’s record of nearly 37 million as the weak yen boosted the appeal of the “bucket list” destination.
However, the number of tourists from China last month dropped about 45 percent from a year earlier to around 330,000.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan triggered a sharp diplomatic backlash from China, which urged its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan.
Tuesday’s announcement showed the warning has had an impact on visitor numbers.
China has been the biggest source of tourists to the Japanese archipelago, with almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 — a quarter of all foreign tourists, according to official figures.
Attracted by a weak yen, Chinese tourists splashed out the equivalent of $3.7 billion in the third quarter.
However, Transport Minister Yasushi Kaneko said it was a “significant achievement” that overall visitors numbers had topped 40 million people for the first time.
“While the number of Chinese tourists in December decreased, we attracted a sufficient number of people from many other countries and regions to offset that,” he said, adding that there had been a “steep” increase in tourists from Europe, the United States and Australia.
“We also hope and want to make sure that Chinese visitors will return to us as soon as possible.”
The overall increase is partly due to government policies to promote attractions from Mount Fuji’s majestic slopes to shrines and sushi bars in more far-flung parts of the archipelago.
The government has set an ambitious target of reaching 60 million tourists annually by 2030.
- Overtourism -
However Japan’s biggest travel agency JTB forecasted that overall tourist numbers this year would be “slightly lower” compared to 2025 due to a decrease in demand from China and Hong Kong.
Nevertheless tourism income was expected to increase due to rising prices of items such as lodging and strong spending among visitors.
It added that due to an uptick in repeat visitors to Japan, the places people want to visit are shifting from large cities to rural areas.
Authorities say they want to spread sightseers more evenly around the country, as complaints of overcrowding in hotspots like Kyoto grow.
As in other global tourist magnets like Venice in Italy, there has been growing pushback from residents in the ancient capital.
The tradition-steeped city, just a couple of hours from Tokyo on the bullet train, is famed for its kimono-clad geisha performers and increasingly crowded Buddhist temples.
Locals have complained of disrespectful tourists harassing the geisha in a frenzy for photos, as well as causing traffic congestion and littering.
Elsewhere, exasperated officials have taken steps to improve visitors, including introducing an entry fee and a daily cap on the number of hikers climbing Mount Fuji.
A barrier was briefly erected outside a convenience store in 2024 to stop people standing in the road to photograph a view of the snow-capped volcano that had gone viral.
Japan logged 42.7 million arrivals last year, according to the transport ministry, topping 2024’s record of nearly 37 million as the weak yen boosted the appeal of the “bucket list” destination.
However, the number of tourists from China last month dropped about 45 percent from a year earlier to around 330,000.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan triggered a sharp diplomatic backlash from China, which urged its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan.
Tuesday’s announcement showed the warning has had an impact on visitor numbers.
China has been the biggest source of tourists to the Japanese archipelago, with almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 — a quarter of all foreign tourists, according to official figures.
Attracted by a weak yen, Chinese tourists splashed out the equivalent of $3.7 billion in the third quarter.
However, Transport Minister Yasushi Kaneko said it was a “significant achievement” that overall visitors numbers had topped 40 million people for the first time.
“While the number of Chinese tourists in December decreased, we attracted a sufficient number of people from many other countries and regions to offset that,” he said, adding that there had been a “steep” increase in tourists from Europe, the United States and Australia.
“We also hope and want to make sure that Chinese visitors will return to us as soon as possible.”
The overall increase is partly due to government policies to promote attractions from Mount Fuji’s majestic slopes to shrines and sushi bars in more far-flung parts of the archipelago.
The government has set an ambitious target of reaching 60 million tourists annually by 2030.
- Overtourism -
However Japan’s biggest travel agency JTB forecasted that overall tourist numbers this year would be “slightly lower” compared to 2025 due to a decrease in demand from China and Hong Kong.
Nevertheless tourism income was expected to increase due to rising prices of items such as lodging and strong spending among visitors.
It added that due to an uptick in repeat visitors to Japan, the places people want to visit are shifting from large cities to rural areas.
Authorities say they want to spread sightseers more evenly around the country, as complaints of overcrowding in hotspots like Kyoto grow.
As in other global tourist magnets like Venice in Italy, there has been growing pushback from residents in the ancient capital.
The tradition-steeped city, just a couple of hours from Tokyo on the bullet train, is famed for its kimono-clad geisha performers and increasingly crowded Buddhist temples.
Locals have complained of disrespectful tourists harassing the geisha in a frenzy for photos, as well as causing traffic congestion and littering.
Elsewhere, exasperated officials have taken steps to improve visitors, including introducing an entry fee and a daily cap on the number of hikers climbing Mount Fuji.
A barrier was briefly erected outside a convenience store in 2024 to stop people standing in the road to photograph a view of the snow-capped volcano that had gone viral.
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