- An Air India Express flight suffered a hard landing at Phuket International Airport, damaging its nose gear.
- All 133 passengers and crew were evacuated safely with no injuries reported after the incident.
- The single runway closure suspended all airport operations, forcing diversions to Krabi and Bangkok.
(PHUKET, THAILAND) — Air India Express flight IX938 from Hyderabad suffered a hard landing at Phuket International Airport on March 11, 2026, damaging its nose landing gear and shedding two nose wheels as the aircraft slid briefly on the runway.
All 133 passengers, including 131 adults and 2 infants, and 7 crew evacuated safely with no injuries reported.
Air India Express confirmed the incident in a statement and said: “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 safely deplaned. We thank our guests, Phuket airport authorities, and all stakeholders for their cooperation.”
Passengers left the aircraft using stairs and were transported to the terminal, the airline said.
The hard landing and its aftermath halted traffic at one of Thailand’s best-known gateways, after Phuket International Airport suspended all operations and issued a NOTAM closing its single runway from 12:08 PM local time.
Phuket airport initially targeted a reopening at 6:00 PM local time (11:00 UTC), before updating the plan to 9:00 PM local time because of ongoing aircraft removal and landing gear repairs.
The disruption forced flight diversions to Krabi (KBV) and Bangkok (BKK) and led to cancellations, as operators adjusted schedules around the runway closure.
Airports of Thailand, which operates Phuket airport, advised passengers to check with airlines as the situation developed and flights were redirected or scrubbed.
The flight involved a Boeing 737 MAX 8 with registration VT-BWQ, though some reports described the aircraft as a 737-800.
Air India Express flight IX938 departed Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on the Hyderabad (HYD) to Phuket (HKT) route at 6:42 AM, after a scheduled departure time of 6:20 AM.
The aircraft arrived ahead of its scheduled 11:40 AM arrival time, with the hard-landing incident reported at approximately 11:24-11:40 AM local time.
Photos and videos circulating online showed the detached nose wheel on the runway and visible damage to the aircraft’s nose area, along with skid marks that appeared after the nose gear collapsed.
Viral images and video also captured what was described as a hard landing bounce and a short slide, before the aircraft came to a stop on the runway.
Emergency teams secured the area immediately, footage and accounts indicated, as the airport moved to close the runway and keep people clear of the aircraft.
The sequence left airport staff with two parallel tasks: moving passengers away from the aircraft without injuries, and then clearing and repairing the runway environment to restore normal movements.
Airline operations across the region then had to react quickly, with arriving aircraft sent instead to Krabi or Bangkok, while other flights were cancelled as the closure stretched into the evening.
For passengers waiting to depart Phuket, the timing meant uncertainty through the afternoon, as the runway closure began at 12:08 PM local time and the reopening estimate shifted from 6:00 PM local time to 9:00 PM local time.
The shutdown also underscored how disruptions can ripple at airports with a single runway, where even one disabled aircraft can stop takeoffs and landings until it is removed and the surface is checked.
Phuket International Airport serves as a major tourist hub, and the halt in operations quickly became a focus of attention online as images of the damaged nose gear spread.
The Air India Express statement credited both airport authorities and other stakeholders as it described the response, while stressing that the crew followed standard protocols and passengers left the aircraft safely.
The incident involved a “hard landing,” a term used in the initial accounts, and the visible damage centered on the nose landing gear, where two nose wheels detached.
With the plane sliding briefly after the collapse, the runway showed skid marks in images shared from the scene, while responders secured the area as the airport moved to manage the closure.
The changing reopening estimates reflected the practical work still required on the airfield, with the latest update attributing the delay to aircraft removal and repairs related to the landing gear.
As of the airport’s latest update, operations were expected to resume at 9:00 PM local time, bringing an end to a day of diversions, cancellations and extended waits triggered by the Air India Express arrival.
