Etihad flight suffers tyre burst

An Etihad Airways aircraft suffered a suspected tyre burst on landing, forcing the Mumbai airport authorities to shut operations at the main runway on Monday evening.

Around 12 flights were delayed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. All 196 passengers on board, including 13 crew members, are safe. According to officials, the incident occurred after flight EY 204 from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai landed at around 7 pm.

While taxiing, the aircraft's pilot informed the air traffic controllers about the incident. The operations were moved to the secondary runway after the plane from Abu Dhabi got stuck in the middle of the runway, an airport official said.

A statement released by Etihad said all passengers and crew are fine and engineers are ready to replace the deflated tyres after guests disembark.

According to airport insiders, the inconvenience to passengers was amplified as the incident happened during peak hours, and even on a normal day, flights tend to get delayed by around 30-45 minutes because of congestion.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated an investigation into the case. The investigators have not ruled out the possibility of a hard landing.

Etihad Airways is assisting guests who may be impacted by the delay of the outbound flight and advising them of any subsequent changes to their travel plans.