Phuket International Airport has been forced to temporarily close its runway after an Air India Express plane landed nose-first on the tarmac, sustaining damage in the process.
The Boeing 737 MAX operating flight IX938, which had departed from Hyderabad, India, made a hard landing at the Thai airport on Wednesday, 11 March, damaging the aircraft’s nose landing gear.
All 133 passengers – including two infants – and seven crew members on board were left unharmed, and were safely evacuated from the plane, according to local reports.
Airport officials said the aircraft touched down at 11.24am local time ahead of its scheduled arrival time of 11.40am.
Preliminary inspections indicated the aircraft made a hard landing, which left the plane unable to immediately taxi off the runway.
Videos and photos taken by bystanders near the airport show the plane flying closely overhead before ‘bouncing’ onto the tarmac, as one Russian onlooked exclaimed: ‘Wow, that plane really bounced!’
An Air India Express plane landed nose-first on the runway at Phuket International Airport, resulting in the temporary closure of the runway
The hard landing caused damaged to the aircraft, including to its nose landing gear
Initial reports suggested the issue may have been linked to a detached wheel, believed to have resulted from the heavy landing.
Due to the damaged aircraft coming to rest on the runway, airport officials have been prompted to temporarily suspend flight operations.
Phuket International Airport has since issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) announcing a temporary runway closure until 6pm local time, while crews work to remove the aircraft and carry out safety inspections.
With airport operations halted, inbound flights have been required to hold in nearby airspace while others have been diverted to alternate airports, including Krabi (KBV) and Bangkok (BKK), according to Nation Thailand.
British passengers were among those delayed as a result of the incident, as well as passengers heading to and from Russia.
The problem has been reportedly linked to a detached wheel, believed to have resulted from the hard landing
According to reports, airport lounges were ‘crammed full’ of travellers due to delays, as one passenger complained to E2W News: ‘Our flight is delayed nine hours’.
As reported by Business Standard, Air India said in a statement: ‘We confirm that our Hyderabad-Phuket flight on March 11 experienced an issue with the nose wheel at Phuket Airport. The crew followed all standard protocols, and guests were deplaned.’
Travellers are urged to checked their flight status directly with airlines before arriving to the airport.
Air India, ranked as one of the world’s worst airlines for over a decade, has been embroiled in a long history of tragic disasters over the years.
In June 2025, one of the airline’s planes suffered a crash that claimed the lives of 270 people – the carrier’s highest ever death toll from an accident.
Gatwick-bound Flight AI171, which was carrying 242 passengers, including 53 British nationals, crashed moments after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner smashed into the densely populated Meghani area of the city after losing power at 625ft. All but one sole survivor on the plane died.
The Indian national airline has, in its nearly 90-year history, endured some of the industry’s most dramatic incidents – including several crashes, a hijacking and a devastating terrorist bomb attack.
The airline’s first major accident came in 1947, according to research by Britannica, 15 years after the brand took to the skies.
On December 27th, close to Karachi in Pakistan, a Mumbai-bound Douglas C-48C (DC-3) aircraft, carrying 23 passengers, crashed into Korangi Creek, killing all of those on board.
The accident was deemed the result of possible instrument failure and poor visibility.
On January 1, 1978, all 213 passengers perished when the first Boeing jumbo jet Air India had ever bought came down eight years later after taking off from Mumbai en route to Dubai.
Instrument failure was blamed for the accident, which saw the 747 aircraft plummet into the Arabian Sea.
And in June 1985, 329 people were killed on Air India flight 182 after a bomb placed in the aircraft’s hold exploded off the coast of Ireland.
