An Air India Express flight from Hyderabad made a hard landing at Phuket International Airport, damaging its nose landing gear and forcing a runway closure for nearly six hours. The Boeing 737-800, carrying 131 passengers, two infants and seven crew members, became stuck on the runway. All passengers were safely evacuated with no injuries reported.
An Air India Express flight from Hyderabad to Phuket made a hard landing at Phuket International Airport in Thailand on Wednesday, damaging the aircraft’s nose landing gear and forcing airport authorities to temporarily close the runway. The aircraft involved in the incident was Air India Express flight IX938, operated by a Boeing 737-800 with registration number VT-BWQ. The flight landed at 11:24 am local time, slightly earlier than its scheduled arrival time of 11:40 am.
Soon after landing, officials found that the aircraft’s nose landing gear had been damaged, leaving the plane unable to move off the runway immediately.
Nose-wheel malfunction reported
Initial reports suggested that the aircraft faced a nose-wheel malfunction during the landing. Because of the damage, the plane became temporarily stuck on the runway.
Airport authorities quickly moved to secure the area and began assessing the condition of the aircraft and the runway. Safety teams were called in to inspect the landing area and ensure there were no risks for other flights.
The situation forced officials to suspend runway operations while the aircraft was inspected and the runway cleared.