Male’s Velana International Airport (MLE), the Maldives’ main international airport, was temporarily shut down on March 28,2023 after a Flydubai aircraft suffered multiple burst tires upon landing.
Flight FZ 1569 from Dubai International Airport (DXB), operated by a 737 MAX 9, was attempting to land on MLE airport’s runway 36 when the incident occurred. No injuries were reported.
Photos of the burst tires were published on Aviators Maldives’ Facebook page:
The airport operator, Maldives Airport Company, posted a tweet confirming the incident:
“An aircraft ground incident has been declared at Velana Airport due to a tire burst from an aircraft during landing. Passengers & crew are safe. The runway is temporarily closed & we are working to resume normal operations.,” the airport said.
Aviators Maldives posted a list of flights that were affected (canceled, diverted, or delayed) due to the two-hour closure of the runway:
Normal operations resumed at MLE airport at around 17:45 local time.
