IAF aircraft’s ‘hard landing’ incident: Pune airport resumes flights after 9 hours

THe runway at Pune drome was temporarily unopen tardily fri dark after an incident involving an aircraft of the Indian Air Force, officials said. A police officer said an IAF aircraft experienced a "hard landing" but refused to give details, according to PTI.Operations resumed from 7:30 am on Saturday, Maharashtra's civil aviation minister Murlidhar Mohor said.Earlier, the IAF wrote on X, “Pune runway is temporarily unavailable due to an incident involving an IAF aircraft. The aircrew are safe and there is no damage to civil property.” It added that work is ongoing to operationalise the runway and resume normal services. What happened?According to airport officials, the incident happened around 10:25 pm when a fighter aircraft’s landing gear failed during landing, blocking the runway.Based on Air Traffic Control information, it would have taken four to five hours to clear the runway and resume normal operations."As per IAF ATC, it will take 4–5 hours to clear the runway and restore normal operations," they said.Flights divertedFlight tracking data showed that at least eight Pune-bound flights were diverted to multiple airports, including Surat, Goa, Navi Mumbai, Chennai and Coimbatore, as operations were disrupted.Passengers experienced delays and rerouting while restoration work continued.What authorities saidUnion minister of state for civil vviation Murlidhar Mohol confirmed the temporary suspension of runway operations.“Thankfully, the aircrew are safe and there has been no damage to civil property. Airlines have been informed, and it may take approximately 5 hours to restore normal runway operations,” Mohol said in a post on X.“I am in constant touch with the Airport Director and Air Force officials to ensure the situation is resolved at the earliest,” he added. Flights cancelledAs per data by Flightradar24, these flights were cancelled-ArrivalsThe 6:35 am IndiGo flight 6E607 from Chennai.The 6:45 am IndiGo flight 6E5322 from Delhi.The 6:50 am Akasa Air flight QP1311 from Bengaluru.DeparturesThe 6:40 am IndiGo flight 6E391 to Bengaluru.The 7:20 am IndiGo flight 6E956 to Vadodara.The 7:25 am IndiGo flight 6E2375 to Delhi.Flights resume after 9 hoursIn an update, Murlidhar Mohol said that repair work was completed with “safety as the top priority.” Departure operations resumed from 7:30 am, while arrival operations began 8 am onwards, the minister said in a post on X.Air traffic in Pune is expected to gradually return to normal through the day.