A plane operated by airline Norwegian was damaged after hitting a fence while being moved from its departure gate at Gatwick, the carrier said.
The incident involved a Dreamliner aircraft scheduled to depart for New York at 9.50am on Monday.
As it was being pushed back ahead of flight DI7017, it collided with a fence, damaging a cone which contains the auxiliary power unit at its rear.
Passengers disembarked without incident and boarded a replacement aircraft.
The damaged plane was taken out of service.
A Norwegian spokesman said: "We would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience."
PA
