Wing Collisions With Other Aircraft On Ground, Singapore Airlines Cancels Flights From San Francisco

Illustration of a Singapore Airlines Airbus A350 fleet. (Wikimedia Commons/Alan Wilson)

JAKARTA - A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from San Francisco, United States to Singapore was canceled on Wednesday 3 November, after the plane's wing collided with another aircraft on the ground.

Originally, the aircraft with flight number SQ33 from San Francisco to Singapore was scheduled to depart at 21:50 local time on Wednesday (12:50 on Thursday, Singapore time).

Flightradar24 shows aircraft departing and returning to their gates between 9:39 p.m. and 10:27 p.m.

"On Wednesday, November 3, 2021, the wing of a Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900 departing from San Francisco International Airport made contact with another aircraft on the ground," a Singapore Airlines spokesperson replied in response to CNA's inquiries, as quoted Friday 5 November.

"The SIA A350-900 returned safely to the gates for inspection, and there were no injuries to the crew or passengers on board."

The flight was canceled and technicians carried out inspections on the plane, the spokesman said.

Singapore Airlines has provided assistance to passengers affected by the cancellation, arranged hotel stays and re-accommodated them on the SQ33 service which was scheduled to depart at 9:50 p.m. local time on Thursday local time.

The flight took off at 10:11 p.m. and was en route to Singapore, according to tracking data on Flightradar24 and FlightAware.

"Singapore Airlines would like to apologize to our customers for any inconvenience caused," the spokesman said, adding the airline was unable to provide further comment as an investigation into the incident was ongoing.