AI plane skids off runway
It disrupted Mumbai air traffic. Mumbaikars' experience | Share yours
An Air-India Boeing 747-400 from Bangalore skidded and overshot the runway onto the soft ground at the end of the track in Mumbai on Saturday morning, disrupting air traffic at the Mumbai airport.
The nose-wheel of the Boeing, which was carrying 335 passenger and crew from Bangalore to Mumbai, hit the runway lights at the end of the runway before getting stuck in the slushy ground at around 7 am, airport sources said here adding it was raining heavily at that time.
All passengers have been disembarked and brought to the Sahar terminal building of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport by buses.
The flight was due to operate onwards to Chicago via Frankfurt, an Air-India spokesperson said.
Faced with the closure of the airport, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has opened the main runway for out-bound traffic only.
"We have decided to open the main runway (09-27) as there were a large number early morning departing flights," an Airport official said.
Meanwhile, the secondary runway was cleared as the Air-India Boeing was pulled back and towed to a nearby hangar, an Air-India official said.
The operation to pull back the aircraft took less than an hour and the damage is being assessed, the official said.
An alternative Boeing 747-400 has been made available for the passengers to continue their onward journey to Chicago via Frankfurt, he added.
