AirAsia plane's tyre bursts on landing

The right rear axle tyre of a A320 aircraft belonging to low-cost carrier AirAsia burst upon landing at the Sibu Airport at 7.20pm Thursday.

Malaysia Airports Berhad Sibu Airport manager, Zainuddin Abu Nasir said all 138 passengers and six crew on board the plane (Flight AK6440) were unhurt in the incident and the plane was ordered to taxi to 'Bay 3' when it completed its landing and subsequently disallowed from taking off.

He said the incident also caused a runway light to be damaged but it did not affect other aircraft.

"The plane is undergoing repairs and the damaged bulb has also been replaced," he told Bernama.

He added that passengers scheduled to board the plane on the Sibu-Kuching route at 7.50pm had to wait for a replacement aircraft and are scheduled to depart early Friday morning.

The cause of the incident is still under investigation.

It is learnt that the incident caused two other flights to be delayed by several hours, namely MH3383 to Kuching and MH3660 to Miri.