A jet bridge collapsed last Thursday at SFO, just before a deplaning process was about to begin for an arriving Hawaiian Airlines flight from Maui.
The incident happened at Gate A1 at SFO at around 7 pm on May 2, and was first reported on the Facebook account A Fly Guy's Cabin Crew Lounge, which has around 1 million followers who are mostly airline industry professionals. The arriving jet was flight HA42 from Maui's Kahului Airport, and the passenger jet bridge appeared to have some sort of structural failure as it was being extended toward the planes left front door.
The initial report suggested the collapse happened "after passengers had deplaned," but SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel tells the Chronicle that the collapse happened before the deplaning process began — and no one was injured.
Glight HA42 is typically scheduled to land at 6:50 pm.
Photos show the damage to the wheeled structure that supports the jetway.
The collapse caused damage to the plane's left front cabin door, however all passengers and crew on the Airbus A321neo jet were able to deplane safely — possibly through another door.
The Chronicle reports that the six-year-old plane remains grounded at SFO as it awaits repairs, and the return flight out of SFO to Kahului Airport was canceled.
This incident follows a string of mishaps that have mostly befallen United Airlines-owned Boeing jets in recent months, a number of them bound for or departing from SFO.
In March, a Japan-bound United flight of SFO lost a tire during takeoff, and the tire crashed down onto cars in an employee parking lot at the airport.
Previously: United Airlines Jet Clips Wing of Another United Jet at SFO
Photo: Kevin Bosc