Operations at Shirdi airport may resume Wednesday morning

The operations at the Shirdi airport which was suspended Monday after a SpicJet flight from New Delhi overshot the runway while lending, is expected to resume Wednesday morning, airport director Dhiren Bhosale said.

After the incident the aircraft was stuck at the runway and authorities had been struggling to remove it and restart the operations.

The Boeing 737 aircraft has been retrieved from the runway and teams from the aviation regulator DGCA and airline are carrying out a thorough inspection of the plane to assess damages to the plane, Bhosale told PTI.

A Boeing 737 aircraft operated by budget carrier SpiceJet Monday evening landed some 50 meters away from the touch down point, and veered off the runway while landing at the Shirdi airport, forcing the authorities to shut all operations.

"We have towed away the plane which was stuck on the runway. We are expecting to recommence normal operations from Wednesday morning," Bhosale said.

The airport in the temple town handles 24 flights per day, 12 departures and arrivals each, operated by Air India's regional subsidiary Alliance and SpiceJet.

A detailed inspection of the Boeing plane is being carried out by the officials from the directorate general of civil aviation as well as the safety department of SpiceJet, he added.

SpiceJet has already grounded both the pilots pending an internal enquiry, while the DGCA is conducting the initial probe into the incident, in which all passengers were evacuated safely.