An Indian Navy MiG-29K caused delayed flights after it had a burst tyre during takeoff at Goa’s Dabolim Airport on Tuesday, disrupting the airports operations for several hours. Multiple flights needed to be diverted and delayed.
Goa International Airport (GOI), also known as Dabolim, is one of two airports serving the popular tourist destination of Goa. The airport is a civil enclave located at INS Hansa, India’s most extensive naval base, home to 2,000 military servants, 1,000 civilians, and eight naval air squadrons (INAS).
The naval aircraft was due to operate a routine takeoff. However, after the tire burst, it was stranded on the airport’s taxiway; the airport fire brigade and other services were then deployed to the aircraft. As a precaution, authorities shut the airport until 1600 local time, affecting ten passenger flights and causing some to divert to the new Goa airport, Manohar International Airport (GOX). As reported by the Economic Times, a Naval spokesperson released this statement:
An afternoon of delays
Data retrieved from Flightradar24 shows the majority of the flights affected had delays of several hours. Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo was among the most affected, with 17 operating delays that afternoon. 6E 2485, inbound from Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), was also diverted to Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM).
Given the mix of civilian and military operations at Dabolim, capacity is strained at the Goa Airport, which led to the establishment of Manohar International, 55km (34 miles) north of Dabolim. The airport director, S V T Dhanamjaya, released this statement regarding the incident at GOI:
“As a result of the incident, the airport runway has been shut for operations till 4 pm. The services of 10 flights were affected. Some flights were diverted to the Manohar International Airport at Mopa.”
Manohar International (GOX)
Colloquially known as Mopa, it was fully constructed by December 11th, 2022; IndiGo was the first operator to serve the airport, with a flight from Hyderabad arriving on January 5th earlier this year.
Military News Today 
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