Air India Express flight skids on runway at Mangaluru airport, all passengers safe

EWB

Mangaluru, 30 Jun: An Air India Express flight with 183 passengers on board veered off the taxiway after landing at the Mangalore Airport on Sunday. All passengers and crew members on board the Dubai-Mangalore flight are safe, the airlines said in a statement.

 

The incident happened at around 5.40 pm after the aircraft landed at Mangaluru International Airport and was proceeding on the taxiway towards the terminal.

 

The operations at the airport are normal and the aircraft will be towed soon. A statement by the airport authorities said that the flight veered off the taxiway after landing and got stuck in the grass.

 

 

“AI Express aircraft VT-AYA, operating IX 384, Dubai to Mangalore on June 30, after landing on runway 24 while vacating the runway to the right side has gone off the taxiway into soft ground,” the airlines said in a statement.

 

Tailwind and wet runway with inadequate braking action were cited as the reasons behind the incident even though a formal investigation would be conducted, the airlines said. All passengers and crew are safe, and they deplaned using a step ladder, it added.

 

The incident takes place just a fortnight after another Air India aircraft from Dubai with 185 passengers on board, veered off the runway slightly while touching down. The incident involving the flight- IX 814 – took place at around 04:45 hours and all the passengers and crew were unhurt, an official said.

 

The Mangaluru airport is notorious for its table-top runway as the location is on a hill top, preventing extension of the runway. In May 2010, an Air India Express plane from Dubai had overshot the runway and plunged down the cliff into a wooded valley, killing 158 people.