AI plane tyre deflates; narrow escape for 128

MUMBAI: One of the tyres of an Air India plane from Ahmedabad on Tuesday morning suddenly flattened and sat on a taxiway causing a minor scare among its 128 passengers.

MUMBAI: One of the tyres of an Air India plane from Ahmedabad on Tuesday morning suddenly flattened and sat on a taxiway causing a minor scare among its 128 passengers.

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Airport officials said luckily the tyre deflated after the aircraft had vacated the main airstrip. Passengers and crew are safe, said officials. “A similar tyre burst on the runway could have held up peak hour traffic and had a cascading effect on the entire day’s schedule,” said a senior air traffic control official.

A tow-tractor attached to the plane took it to another parking bay and the airline was looking for a spare aircraft to operate its return flight to Ahmedabad, officials added. The incident occurred at 8:55 pm a minute after flight AI 614’s scheduled arrival.

The AI spokesperson did not offer comment till the time of publishing. The incident could have seriously hampered operations as the airport would shut its main airstrip for four hours for repair works from noon. While this partially closure would take place intermittently throughout the week, the main maintenance will start from October 30.