Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: An Air India Express aircraft on Wednesday suffered a nose-wheel issue while landing at Phuket International Airport in Thailand, the airline confirmed to news agency PTI.A video surfaced online showed the aircraft making a rough touchdown on the runway, appearing to land abruptly and momentarily bounce before settling.Authorities temporarily suspended flight operations at the airport after the aircraft became stuck on the runway, sources said. The number of passengers on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft was not immediately known.
“We confirm that our Hyderabad-Phuket flight on March 11 experienced an issue with the nose wheel at Phuket Airport,” Air India Express said in a statement.The nose wheel is a key component of an aircraft’s landing gear system.Flight IX 938 departed from Hyderabad at 6:42 am, slightly later than its scheduled departure time of 6:20 am, and landed at Phuket at 11:40 am local time, according to data from Flightradar24.“The crew followed all standard protocols, and guests were deplaned,” the airline added in its statement.
