CHENNAI: The main runway of Chennai airport was shut down for more than an hour after a Trujet aircraft flying from Belgaum to Mysuru was diverted to Chennai due to a landing gear issue on Monday night.
According to a spokesman, an emergency was declared at 8.50 pm in Chennai airport after the Trujet aircraft (ATR 72 -500 aircraft) carrying 52 people (47 passengers and five crew members) was diverted. The aircraft landed at the Chennai Airport at 2108 hours. It could not taxi off on its own and was stopped on the main runway. "As the aircraft could not be taxied or towed with passengers on board, the officials undertook safe passenger offloading on the runway itself," the spokesman added.
The aircraft was towed to the parking bay. Due to non-availability of the main runway, the secondary runway was put into operation. Nine flights operated from the secondary runway (five arrivals and four departures) during this period, the spokesman added.
The main runway was handed over for operations at 10.09 pm. However due to runway blockage, a wide-body aircraft of Singapore Airlines SQ 8028 was diverted to Bangalore at 9.05 pm.
The airport emergency response team (Airport Fire Services/Operations) was deployed to avert any incident and was swift to act after the aircraft touched down.