4 Tyres of Lufthansa Flight Bust on Landing in Mumbai

Mumbai: Over 160 passengers and crew on-board a Lufthansa flight from Munich to the megapolis had a providential escape here last night after all four back tyres of the Airbus aircraft were damaged while landing.

The 163 passengers on-board the Airbus A330 flight were be deplaned through stairs and none of them were hurt, the airline said

The incident that took place at 11.50 pm on Friday forced the Mumbai airport to shift the operations to the secondary runway, leading to cancellation of many international flights besides delays.

While the aviation regulator DGCA has initiated a probe into the incident, experts say the damage to the tyres could have been caused either by manual braking or landing at a speed higher than the prescribed limit. Besides the four tyres at the back of the aircraft, there are two in front.

It can't be a tyre issue. It is next to impossible that all four rear tyres of the aircraft get damaged at the same time, a former DGCA official told PTI.

"In this case, prima facie, it appears to be either a snag in the braking system or the pilot landing at an unusually high speed," he added.

He also ruled out any possibility of the incident occurring due to any problem in the runway surface.

The delays in flight operations are because the Mumbai airport, despite being the second busiest airport in the country, has only one main runway, while all other major airports have two runways. The accident took place on Runway 27, which is the main runway.

The main runway was cleared for operations late evening after the aircraft was towed away to the parking bay.

In a statement, Lufthansa said, "On May 13, at 10:50 pm local time, four tyres of the flight LH764 from Munich to Mumbai were damaged. The incident happened on Runway 27."

Asked how the tyres got damaged simultaneously, Lufthansa in a late evening statement said, "the regulator, DCGA, is in charge of investigating the incident and we have to wait for the outcome. We certainly won't join into speculation but cooperate very closely with the local authorities."

The German airline also said it cancelled the return flight (LH765) to Munich scheduled for today from the city.

The cancelled flight was to ferry 223 passengers, who would be booked on other flights.

Meanwhile, the airline said it is sending an Airbus A340 to Mumbai to ferry the passengers who were booked on flight LH765 earlier.