Three threshold light fittings, two end light fittings and an approach light fitting were found damaged at the Chennai airport on Sunday.
A senior AAI official told The Hindu that the incident came to light when an electrical department vehicle went for an inspection of the main runway in the morning.
The officials immediately passed on the information to the Apron control, which, on inspection, found aircraft tyre markings in the pre-threshold area, about 450 metres before the touchdown zone.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said they were unable to immediately ascertain the airline which damaged the lights.
A senior official said preliminary investigations indicated that probably a cargo airliner could have caused the damage. The captain of the aircraft who damaged the lights went off without even informing the authorities concerned.
A senior AAI officer said that it was a major violation, the kind of which has not been reported in the recent past. The pilot of the cargo airline should have informed the authorities that he landed the aircraft well before the threshold area.
A former AAI officer said that a similar incident was reported more than two decades ago, when an Air India pilot of an Airbus 310 aircraft landed it well before the threshold area.
The tyres of the aircraft burst. The Director General of Civil Aviation authorities has ordered an inquiry into the Sunday incident. Further investigation is in progress, said AAI authorities.
