United Airlines Loses Tire Immediately After Takeoff in San Francisco

A United Airlines Boeing 777-200 airplane en route to Japan lost a tire immediately after takeoff in San Francisco, California.

The incident occurred around 11:35 a.m. on March 7 as the flight departed for Osaka, Japan, the San Francisco airport’s spokesperson, Doug Yakel, told CNN. Shortly after takeoff, a tire came loose from the aircraft.

Subsequently, the agency said the tire damaged several cars in an employee parking lot before the plane safely landed at Los Angeles International Airport. No one was injured.

The flight had 235 passengers and a crew of 14 on board. United Airlines released a statement saying the aircraft has six tires on its two main landing struts and that it is designed to land safely with damaged or missing tires, KRON4 reports.

“United Flight 35 lost one tire after takeoff from San Francisco and landed safely at LAX. We are arranging for a new aircraft to continue this trip for our customers,” a United Airlines spokesperson told KRON 4.

A runway at SFO was briefly closed but has since reopened. There were no further impacts on any other flights.

This incident occurred the same day United Airlines announced it was expanding its leading global route network, adding new non-stop flights between New York/Newark-Marrakesh, Morocco; Tokyo/Narita-Cebu, Philippines; and Houston-Medellin, Colombia. United States will also increase its flights to popular destinations across the globe, including Hong Kong, Seoul, South Korea, and Porto, Portugal.

The announcement reveals that United Airlines will offer non-stop service to 134 international destinations across 67 countries. Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, says, “We have consistently been ahead of the curve in finding hidden gem destinations for our customers to explore and remain committed to providing the most unique slate of travel options for their adventures abroad.”

The latest airplane incident comes two months after a door fell off of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 during a flight. The problem occurred because a door plug blew out, causing an uncontrolled decompression of the plane.