Six suffer minor injuries in American Airlines flight’s “hard landing” at Kahului Airport, Maui

Six individuals have been hospitalized with minor injuries and subsequently discharged after an American Airlines jetliner experienced a “hard landing” at Kahului Airport in Maui, Hawaii, this Saturday, as reported by both Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and airline officials.

In an official statement, the FAA disclosed that the American Airlines Airbus A320 encountered a “hard landing” on a runway at approximately 2 p.m. local time. Among those hospitalized were one passenger and five flight attendants, as confirmed by American Airlines in a separate press release.

Flight 271, originating from Los Angeles International Airport, encountered an issue upon landing, according to the airline. Despite the incident, the aircraft successfully taxied to the gate under its own power, and passengers disembarked in a routine manner.

At the time of the landing, Maui’s weather was characterized by partly cloudy conditions, wind, and a temperature of approximately 80 degrees, according to data from the National Weather Service. The aircraft, carrying 167 customers and seven crew members, has been temporarily removed from service for inspection.

American Airlines emphasized that the safety of both customers and team members remains their foremost priority. Concurrently, the FAA has initiated an investigation into the incident to determine its root cause.

Notably, the scheduled arrival time for Flight 271 from Los Angeles was 12:47 p.m., deviating by approximately 79 minutes from its actual landing time. Additional data from Kahului Airport and FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, revealed that the plane spent over an hour taxiing at LAX before taking off. The reasons behind this prolonged ground time, as well as any potential connection to the subsequent hard landing, remain unclear at this point.