SpiceJet plane damages runway edge lights at Bengaluru airport, operations hit briefly

 A SpiceJet aircraft today damaged runway edge lights after landing, forcing airport authorities to suspend operations for more than half-an-hour.

The incident, involving the SpiceJet flight from Hyderabad, happened late in the evening. An airport official said the plane while taxiing after landing damaged a few runway lights. As the runway was closed from 2247 hours to 2328 hours, at least ten flights were diverted.

The flight SG 1238 was operated with a Q400 aircraft "During landing roll , the aircraft veered off to the left and was aligned to the central line by the pilot. It taxied normally to the bay...However, four runway lights got damaged," a SpiceJet spokesperson said in a statement. All the passengers and baggage were deplaned in a normal manner. There was no damage to the aircraft, the spokesperson said. During the closure of the runway, 8 flights were diverted to Chennai and one each to Trichy and Coimbatore, according to the airport official.