Situational Awareness
Ground Event / Encounter Object
Airport; Equipment / Tooling
I was assigned International Gate from XA:30-XH:00. After I finished the flight departure; and checked the computer; I had a new assignment. I acknowledged my assignment knowing that I was not being provided much time to travel between the gate breakroom and the scheduled arriving gate. I made my way to the gate and was positioned on the jetbridge as the aircraft arrived.  After aircraft was blocked in and Ramp Servicemen (RSM) gave me the Nose to door signal to approach aircraft.I drove B jetbridge to try to meet L1 door; but Jetbridge limit alarm sounded; and ramp agent asked me to stop. I went down onto the envelope to look at what the RSM was stopping me for.  I saw that the B and A bridge were close to each other but still enough apart for a person to walk in between approx. 3 ft apart.  I could not see where any contact had been made between the two bridges. RSM guided me back to the stow box; prior to moving the bridge again I contacted Zone 5 and verified what the correct aircraft was to be met for this 767 aircraft. After 2 or 3 minutes I was told 2L. I then approached the 2L door and completed meeting and deplaning the passengers. Supervisor came to me and said something was damaged.
There is a consistent problem when widebodies come into this international gate. There are 2 jet bridges in order to use both L1 and L2 doors to deplane and board passengers. The jet bridge for L1 is a fixed bridge; therefore no steering is available.If the aircraft is stopped and parked where the front wheel sits on towards the front part of the yellow paint touching the front black stripe; it is actually a mispark. It is a mispark because it is more than 1 ft too far and the jet bridge for the L1 door will not fit properly; therefore L1 cannot be opened. The jet bridge for L2 is a regular apron or drivable bridge; therefore; any sight modification can be done with steering that bridge. Since steering is not an option for the front jet bridge; no modifications can be done if the captain does not stop on time or if the ramp guide does not indicate to the captain to stop on the correct spot. So since the L1 door cannot be used to deplane; it also cannot be used to board an aircraft. By only boarding through 1 door on a full widebody; we take a delay with boarding.
A Gate Agent and a Marshaller described problems with a fixed jet bridge at one of their international gates. At the forward edge of the painted marking for the nose gear; the bridge will not mate properly with the L1 door and only the steerable jet bridge can be used and connected to the L2 door.