A Saudi Arabian Boeing 747-300 registration HZ-AIT performing flight SV-744 from Jeddah via Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Mumbai, India, burst the number 2 and 3 tyres of the left hand main gear while landing on runway 27 at 18:24 (12:54Z) in heavy monsoon rains.
Since the aircraft was heavily loaded, it was stopped on taxiway N8 and passengers were disembarked normally by stairs and taken by bus to the terminal. The plane was towed to the terminal. The main runway 27 was shut down at 18:30 (13:00Z) till 19:06 (13:36Z) while the airport workers checked and collected debris.
Being a peak hour, a number of flights would have been diverted if they had insufficient fuel to remain in a holding patten. We would estimate around 10 flights.
METARS
VABB 041240Z 26008KT 0300 R27/0570 +RA SCT008 SCT015 FEW025TCU OVC080 25/25 Q0999 NOSIG
VABB 041410Z 21010KT 0300 R27/0900 +RA SCT008 SCT012 FEW025TCU OVC080 25/25 Q1000 NOSIG
Earlier weather forced Cathay Pacific flight CX-685 from Hong Kong to Mumbai to perform a “go-around” and land safely at 18:03 local as well as a Kingfisher Airlines flight IT-2138 from Thiruvananthapuram to Mumbai which landed safely just before the runway was shut down.