VIA reopens runway after vacating grounded plane

The runway of Maldives’ main international airport, Velana International Airport (VIA) was reopened on Tuesday evening after closure in the afternoon prompted by the grounding of an airplane due to a burst tire.

VIA’s runway was closed late Tuesday afternoon at approximately 2:18pm after a Fly Dubai’s aircraft arriving at the airport from Dubai had burst its tire amidst landing prompting a grounding incident.

Maldives Airports Company Limited’s (MACL) Spokesperson told Sun that the runway was reopened at 5:50pm this evening after vacating the grounded aircraft. The Spokesperson noted that operations have resumed back to normal since.

As per the Spokesperson, MACL is investigating the incident further.

Although no one was injured in the incident – aircrafts that had been scheduled to land during the period of closure of the runway had been diverted to other locations.

The incident occurred at VIA’s new runway which was made operation on October 6, 2022. It marks the first time an incident prompted temporary closure of the runway since its inauguration.