Air India Express Boeing 737 MAX loses nose wheels in hard landing closing Phuket Airport for hours
March 11, 2026
An Air India Express Boeing 737 MAX suffered an extremely hard landing in Phuket today, causing the nose wheel assembly to break apart.
With no front wheels, the aircraft was stranded on the runway for hours, forcing the airport to suspend service. Engineers eventually managed to attach a new wheel and move the stricken aircraft.
However, indications of fuselage damage during the incident suggest it may be some time before this aircraft returns to service.
How an Air India Express aircraft lost its wheels
Air India Express flight IX938 operates between Hyderabad and Phuket daily, and is almost always operated by a Boeing 737 MAX.
Flying the service today was VT-BWQ, an aircraft delivered to Air India Express in May 2025. Although new to the airline, it had been built and stored for almost six years previously after not being taken up by Xiamen Airlines.
The flight set off from Hyderabad (HYD) at 06:42 this morning, just over half an hour late. Amazingly, the flight managed not only to make up for that late departure but also gained further time on the journey.
Normally taking at least three hours and 20 minutes, today’s service took just three hours and 12 minutes, arriving in Phuket at 11:24, 16 minutes ahead of schedule. But the arrival did not go smoothly for these eager pilots.
Caught in the Act: The Air India aircraft that suffered a hard landing, resulting in damage to the landing gear and nose landing gear, preventing the aircraft from vacating the runway.
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) March 11, 2026
The aircraft, a Boeing 737MAX8 with registration VT-BWQ, arrived at Phuket Airport ahead of… https://t.co/EUP5NxZZsf pic.twitter.com/5J9Mf02UO6
Footage being widely shared online shows the aircraft touching down hard, followed by a bounce and a second hard landing. The video has not been verified, but appears relatively credible.
At some point, the nose wheel assembly on the front landing gear gave way. Hitting the runway with great force likely pushed the wheels apart, causing them to break free from the assembly, leaving the main strut scraping along the runway.
Phuket International Airport has been temporarily closed following a landing incident involving Air India Express flight IX938.
— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) March 11, 2026
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 (Reg: VT-BWQ) from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport reportedly suffered a nose wheel failure on landing, leaving the aircraft… pic.twitter.com/I8IoyQrYfs
The aircraft skidded down the runway for hundreds of metres, finally coming to a halt about halfway down Phuket’s 3,000 metre runway.
Video from inside the cabin shows a violent touchdown, as well as the nose wheels on the grass to the side of the runway.
So you're approaching your holiday destination, enjoying the beach scenery from above, and suddenly you get a hard landing.
— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) March 11, 2026
Air India Express landing into Phuket – view from the cabin.pic.twitter.com/Fx9UNf6PrA
Phuket Airport closed for hours as runway blocked by stricken Boeing
Once the aircraft came to a stop, it could no longer move. With no nose wheels, taxiing to a gate was impossible.
All the passengers were deplaned on the runway, along with the crew, and no injuries have been reported. However, with a 737 MAX blocking its own runway, Phuket Airport had no choice but to suspend operations.
Staff worked to move the jet, using pressurised gas from a service line to raise the landing gear. This novel approach was intended to give a bit more clearance under the aircraft to allow a new wheel to be attached.
UPDATE: Recovery teams are working to clear the stranded Boeing 737 MAX 8 (VT-BWQ) from the runway at Phuket International Airport following the landing incident involving Air India Express flight IX938.
— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) March 11, 2026
From the video,the technicians are re-pressurizing the nose landing gear… https://t.co/yNcQepG9Rw pic.twitter.com/SZAMcVLDOp
Engineers then use what appear to be planks of wood to raise the landing gear enough to fix the wheels on.
After several hours, the wheels were affixed to the aircraft and Phuket Airport could open again.
According to the Phuket Governor Nirat Pongsitthaworn, the aircraft was moved and runway safety checks were completed at 18:47, allowing flight operations to resume at 19:00.
Nosewheel installed on AIX aircraft involved in a bounced landing earlier today at Phuket pic.twitter.com/vOExbk98Rc
— Jagriti Chandra (@jagritichandra) March 11, 2026
Although the new wheel has allowed the aircraft to be removed from the runway, it will require an extensive inspection before it can fly again.
Will the Boeing 737 MAX fly again?
Air India Express Flight IX938 to Phuket is usually a return operation. Its partner return flight, IX937, is timetabled to depart from Phuket around an hour and a half after the arriving service.
After today’s incident, the return flight was cancelled. Indeed, it may be some time before Air India Express gets to fly its 737 MAX again, if ever.
A new image of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 (VT-BWQ) involved in the Air India Express landing incident at Phuket International Airport suggests possible buckling of the lower fuselage skin.
— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) March 11, 2026
There is wrinkling along the lower fuselage structure, typically caused by high compressive or… pic.twitter.com/XoPq282kfS
Photographs of the aircraft after landing suggest some wrinkling to the fuselage above the front landing gear. The landing gear strut may well have been damaged too, but damage to the fuselage is much harder to repair.
Aircraft have been written off before due to similar levels of damage. However, United Airlines famously repaired a Boeing 767 that was damaged in a very similar way, although it took almost a year to return to service.
Featured image: Phuket International Airport
