Air India Express suffers hard landing in Phuket, nose gear damaged

An Air India Express Boeing 737 MAX 8 (registration VT-BWQ) operating flight IX938 from Hyderabad, India, to Phuket, Thailand, suffered a serious hard landing at Phuket International Airport on March 11, 2026, around midday local time.

According to airline and airport sources, the aircraft experienced a nose landing gear failure on touchdown, resulting in both nose wheels detaching from the strut and the aircraft coming to a stop on the runway.

Pictures and video circulating on social media show the Boeing 737 MAX with a visibly damaged front gear area and nose gear tyres separated on the runway surface.

All 133 passengers and seven crew members on board were evacuated safely via stairs and escorted to the terminal; no injuries have been reported.

Because the aircraft was immobilised on the single runway at the airport, authorities issued a NOTAM. They closed runway operations for several hours to allow emergency crews and technicians to secure and remove the jet and to conduct safety inspections.

Numerous arriving and departing flights were affected by the closure, with some aircraft reportedly diverting to alternate airports or being delayed until the runway was reopened later in the afternoon/evening.

Air India Express confirmed the incident in an official statement, noting an issue with the nose wheel on landing and thanking airport officials and crew for their response.

Preliminary flight tracking and weather data indicate that conditions were generally favourable at the time of landing, suggesting that weather was unlikely a contributing factor.