An Air India Express aircraft operating a Hyderabad–Phuket flight encountered a nose-wheel issue after landing at Phuket International Airport on Wednesday, prompting authorities to suspend flight operations as the plane remained stranded on the runway, according to airline officials and sources.

Authorities halted operations at Phuket International Airport after the incident as the aircraft was stuck on the runway, sources said.

The number of passengers onboard the Boeing 737-Max8 aircraft was not immediately known.

"We confirm that our Hyderabad-Phuket flight on March 11 experienced an issue with the nose wheel at Phuket Airport," Air India Express said in a statement.

Nose wheel is a critical component of an aircraft's landing gear system.

Flight IX 938 took off from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 6.42 am instead of its scheduled departure time of 6.20 am and landed at Phuket International Airport at 11.40 am local time, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

"The crew followed all standard protocols, and guests were deplaned," Air India Express said in the statement.