Tense moments, confusion at Hyderabad airport following Indigo plane's multiple tyre bursts

Confusion prevailed at the airport here in the early hours today following diversion and cancellation of some flights at the international airport here after an Indigo plane suffered "multiple tyre bursts."

The aircraft coming from the temple town of Tirupati with 77 people on board suffered multiple tyre bursts while landing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport last night.

All the 73 passengers including an infant were evacuated safely, the airline said.     

Reacting to the incident, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) in a statement tonight said "On March 28, 2018, Indigo flight 6E 7117 from Tirupati to Hyderabad suffered multiple tyre bursts at 2204 hours while landing at Hyderabad International Airport."

Since all four main gear wheels burst on landing, the aircraft was rendered completely immobile, GHIAL, which operates the Rajiv Gandhi International airport, said.

Indigo team supported by Hyderabad Airport officials changed two of the four tyres as per airline Disabled Aircraft Recovery Plan, post which the aircraft was safely towed away and operations resumed at 0222 hours of March 29, it said.

The incident caused diversion of 31 incoming flights (10 International and 21 Domestic flights) besides cancellation of 14 domestic flights from the airport, it said.

Due to diversion of flights, other passengers faced inconvenience.

"The runway was non-operational for close to four hours from last night to 2.22 am of today," the sources at the airport said.

The cancellation of flights was mostly due to late arrivals from the diverted airport stations, and Crew Flight Duty Limitations (FDTL) issues, the release said.

The Airport Fire Rescue team acted promptly and ensured that the sparking caused due to multiple tyre burst did not get out of control and all the passengers were deplaned without injury, it said.

The release said in light of the nature of incident, the aircraft recovery was managed in the shortest possible time through combined efforts of Indigo airline, Hyderabad International Airport, AAI, DGCA and all other airport stakeholders.

"Once the flight operations resumed, Airport Operations Control Centre, the nerve center of the airport,  effectively managed the airside and terminal resources for seamless arrivals and departures," it said.

Hyderabad International Airport officials ensured that terminal facilities were provided to the stranded passengers, the statement said.

The airline had earlier said "IndiGo flight 6E 7117 operated by an ATR (aircraft) from Tirupati to Hyderabad suffered a tyre burst while landing at Hyderabad Airport."

"The 72 passengers and one infant and four crew members are safe," IndiGo had said in a statement.

YSR Congress MLA R K Roja from Andhra Pradesh, who was among the passengers in the flight, said all of them were in "panic" and "tension" following the incident.

"There was tension, but due to God's grace all are safe.  The flight started at 8.55 pm from Tirupati," said Roja, who had also shot some videos (capturing the moments) inside the aircraft after the incident.

According to her, the doors of the aircraft were apparently jammed and passengers became tense as they were not opened.

"We heard the blast and from the windows (of the aircraft), we saw (ground) staff with equipment near the aircraft.I took some videos (to show) that all are safe," Roja said.

"We also saw fire staff...we waited for long and later the doors were opened, till then panic prevailed.Thank God nothing happened...all are safe," Roja added.