The international airport here was shut down for 80 minutes on Saturday after two rear tyres of an A-320 aircraft of Air India (AI-264) flight from Male burst on landing.
The air traffic control and the fire tower noticed that two of the four rear tyres on the right had burst as the aircraft with 152 people, including the crew, started rolling after landing at 12.40 p.m. No one was injured in the incident.
The Commander halted the aircraft before the taxiway on being alerted by the ATC. Though no fire was spotted, contingency plan was activated and crash tenders from the AAI fire station were rushed to the scene. While AI and AAI personnel inspected the tyres, the passengers were shifted to the terminal building.
As the aircraft could not be moved, it was towed to the taxiway after removing baggage. A Jet Airways flight to Mumbai got delayed by an hour following the shutdown.
Airport Director-in-charge Shibu Roberts told The Hindu that flight operations were restored by 2 p.m.
