Air India Express Plane Loses Nose Wheel in Phuket Landing

Phuket airport briefly closed its runway on Wednesday to clear a disabled Air India Express aircraft after a malfunction on landing. Air India Express Flight AXB938, coming from Hyderabad, touched down hard and sustained damage to its nose landing gear. The crew followed standard safety procedures, and all passengers were deplaned as a precaution. There were 133 people on board.

The aircraft involved is a Boeing 737 Max 8, and initial timings show the flight departed Hyderabad at 6:42 am local time and landed in Phuket around 11:40 am. Images from the scene showed a missing nose-wheel with a long skid mark on the runway, underscoring the severity of the hard landing.

To allow ground crews to remove the aircraft and clear debris, Phuket airport temporarily shut the runway. Officials said the runway was expected to reopen by about 6:00 pm local time. There were no reported injuries, and the incident is being reviewed by the airline and local authorities.

Passengers were accommodated in the terminal during the clearance, and services were arranged to minimize disruption. The episode highlights routine safety measures that airlines and airports implement during landing contingencies, with both the carrier and the airport working to return operations to normal as quickly as possible.

#AirIndiaExpress #Phuket #Aviation