Air India Express flight from Dubai misses landing strip in Mangalore

All on board declared safe as engineers assess plane

An Air India Express plane veers off the landing strip at Mangalore, after taking off from Dubai on Sunday. Asian News International, ANI

An Air India Express flight that took off from Dubai skidded off the tarmac upon landing in Mangalore, a south western city in India, on Sunday.

The Boeing 737 aircraft, flight IX384, was touching down at Mangalore International Airport at 5.40pm, when the plane overshot the landing strip and skidded onto the surrounding grassy area, reported Times of India.

Local reports said all 183 people on board were safe and that engineers were assessing the plane. Meanwhile, the runway was closed down.

An Air India Express spokesperson told the Times of India that a combination of tail wind, a wet runway and inadequate braking action appears to have caused the incident.

An internal investigation has been launched and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in India has been informed, reported Indian news agency ANI.

The incident comes nine years after a similar but fatal crash at Mangalore airport.

In May 2010, an Air India Express flight from Dubai overshot the same runway and crash landed in a gorge, killing all but two of the 160 people on board. Mangalore International Airport is located on a plateau and had a table-top runway, making inaccurate landings particularly dangerous.

Sunday's landing was reportedly the second attempt made by the pilot to land but resulted in overshooting the landing strip.