The Hindu Business Line : Air India aircraft makes emergency landing

NOSEDIVE: The Air India Airbus A 310 300 Shanghai-Bangkok-Delhi flight blocking the main runway after its nose wheel broke after landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Monday. — R.V. Moorthy

New Delhi April 9 Normal flight operations at the Delhi airport were affected for more than six hours this morning after the nose gear of an Air India aircraft collapsed when it made an emergency landing here on Monday.

Technical snag

"Due to a technical snag in the locking system of the front landing gear, the flight operating on the Shanghai-Bangkok-Delhi-Mumbai sector made an emergency landing at 6.35 a.m. As the aircraft was being towed away, the nose gear capsized blocking the main runway. The runway was opened partially from 1.19 p.m. and became fully functional by the evening. The incident led to delays of 30-45 minutes in the operation of about ten domestic flights," an airport spokesperson said. There were 169 passengers on board the aircraft, which is 20 years old and owned by the airline.

"We will not be cancelling any flights due to the incident. We always have an aircraft on standby and these will be deployed to ensure that passengers are not inconvenienced," an AI spokesperson said.

Officials said that the 134 passengers scheduled to board the AI aircraft here were accommodated on a scheduled Indian flight.

Late this afternoon another Air India aircraft operating on the Dubai-Delhi sector also made an emergency landing. The incident, however, did not lead to any disruption in normal operations at the airport.