Air India Express Hard Landing Damages Nose Gear at Phuket

An Air India Express flight from Hyderabad, India, made a hard landing at Phuket International Airport in Thailand on March 11, damaging its nose landing gear and forcing the temporary closure of the facility's sole runway for several hours.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8, operating as flight IX938 with registration VT-BWQ, touched down around 11:40 a.m. local time, carrying 133 passengers and seven crew members. According to airport officials and the airline, the aircraft experienced an issue with its nose wheels during the landing, causing both to detach and leaving the plane stuck on the runway. Images from the scene showed skid marks on the tarmac and the landing gear in direct contact with the surface, but no fire or smoke was reported in official accounts. All passengers and crew were safely deplaned without injuries, following standard emergency protocols.

Phuket International Airport, one of Thailand's busiest aviation hubs handling millions of passengers annually, suspended operations from approximately noon until 6 p.m. local time to allow for aircraft removal, inspections, and runway clearance. Flight-tracking data indicated that arriving aircraft were held in nearby airspace,...