American Airlines worker dies after crash with jet bridge at Austin airport terminal

An American Airlines worker died Thursday after being injured at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, according to airport officials.

The worker was injured in the area where planes pull up to the terminal, a spokesperson at the airport in Austin, Texas, said.

Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services said it was called shortly after 2 p.m. and found a person dead from “traumatic injuries.”

An Austin Police spokeswoman told reporters that the man was driving a service vehicle that struck a jet bridge. She said police were investigating the incident as an accident.

“We recognize this incident of nature and we really appreciate the community’s patience as we fully investigate this tragic incident,” Austin Police Officer Destiny Silva said, CBS Austin reported.

Austin Police said there were several witnesses and everybody involved has been cooperating with the investigation, CBS Austin reported.

“We are devastated by the accident involving a team member at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport,” an American Airlines spokeswoman said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and our local team members.”

American declined to comment further. The worker’s name was not immediately available.

There was no significant impact on airport operations, the airport said.

Work around commercial airplanes has resulted in other fatal injuries in recent years. A man died at the Austin airport in 2020 after being struck by Southwest Airlines jet on a runway. Police later ruled it was a suicide and officials said the man was not authorized to be on the runway.

In December, a baggage handler for American subsidiary Piedmont Airlines in Montgomery, Alabama, died when she walked in front of a running jet engine and was pulled into the fan blades.

In September, a contractor’s employee who was unloading bags from a Frontier Airlines plane at the New Orleans airport died after her hair got caught in a conveyer belt.

In 2019, an employee of a United Airlines contractor at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was pinned under a bag-loading vehicle. He died later at a hospital.