A Singapore Airlines (SIA) plane hit an aerobridge at Sydney Airport yesterday while taxiing after landing, and damaged one of its four engines.
One of the aircraft's four engines "made contact" with the aerobridge, said a spokesman for the carrier in a statement to The Straits Times.
"There were no injuries to the 285 passengers and 26 crew" on board Flight SQ 231, he added.
Witnesses posted pictures showing part of an engine rammed into a leg of an aerobridge.
Those on board disembarked safely, and the damage to the aircraft, an Airbus A-380, was still being assessed as of last night, said the spokesman.
An outbound flight from Sydney to Singapore on the same aircraft was cancelled. Affected customers were "accommodated accordingly in order to minimise disruption to their travel plans", with some choosing to stay in Sydney and others boarding alternative flights to Singapore.
The incident occurred five days after another SIA mishap when an Airbus A-330 plane skidded off the runway on touching down during heavy rain at Myanmar's Yangon International Airport last Wednesday.
The plane, Flight SQ998 on a daily route to Myanmar, was carrying 265 passengers and crew, all of whom were unhurt.
Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, who was on board the aircraft and called the incident "the hardest landing" he had ever experienced, praised the crew in a Facebook post for being "very professional and reassuring despite the situation".
Two other SIA A-380s incurred problems mid-air earlier this year.
One, en route to Hong Kong on May 9, was forced to turn back to Singapore after a cargo door warning alert was triggered.
Another needed to make an emergency landing in Azerbaijan in January after cabin pressure dipped mid-flight. It was subsequently reported that a main deck door appeared to have suffered a leak.
