A United Airlines flight that took off from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) was diverted to Los Angeles after losing a tire during takeoff Thursday that proceeded to damage several parked vehicles parked at the airport.
“United flight 35 lost one tire after takeoff from San Francisco. The flight will land at LAX. Once the flight lands in Los Angeles, we will arrange a new aircraft to continue this trip for our customers,” a United Airlines spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The flight has since landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
The spokesperson said the Boeing 777-200 aircraft was carrying 249 people on board, including 235 customers, 10 flight attendants, and four pilots.
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“The 777-200 has six tires on each of its two main landing gear struts. The aircraft is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires,” the spokesperson said.
According to airport officials, the plane took off from SFO at 11:35 a.m. local time, and was diverted to Los Angeles about 25 minutes later.
The tire landed in an SFO employee parking lot and there were no injuries, SFO airport officials confirmed to Fox News Digital. However, multiple parked vehicles suffered damage as a result of the tire falling off the plane.
“United Flight 35 departing to Osaka lost a portion of landing gear tire during takeoff. The tire debris landed in an on-airport employee parking lot, causing damage to several vehicles,” airport officials said.
The runway was briefly closed to clear debris, but has since reopened with no further impact on airport operations, officials said.
It was the second malfunction in a week involving United Airlines, as a plane traveling from Honolulu to San Francisco encountered an engine failure over the Pacific Ocean.
The crew on the Boeing 757-300 declared an emergency on Monday while the flight was approximately 270 miles from its destination, reporting a shutdown of the right-hand engine.
United said despite the delay, the aircraft managed to land safely at San Francisco International Airport nearly an hour after the incident.
“On Monday afternoon, United flight 214 experienced an engine issue shortly before its arrival at San Francisco International Airport,” a United Airlines spokesperson said. “The flight landed safely and passengers deplaned normally.”