Passengers expecting a quick weekend hop from the Korean resort island of Jeju to Taipei instead found themselves at the center of a major runway disruption on Sunday, after a T’way Air Boeing 737 arriving as Flight TW687 lost a wheel on touchdown at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. While the aircraft landed safely and no injuries were reported, the incident forced the temporary closure of the airport’s north runway, triggering ground delays, taxiway congestion, and a long, anxious wait for travelers whose journey rapidly turned from routine to nerve rattling.
A Routine Island Hop That Ended in a Shock
Flight TW687 is a familiar number to regular travelers between Jeju and Taipei, a short route often filled with holidaymakers, students, and families dividing their time between the volcanic landscapes of Jeju and the night markets of northern Taiwan. On Sunday afternoon, the Boeing 737 operated by South Korean low cost carrier T’way Air departed Jeju as scheduled and approached Taiwan Taoyuan International under what authorities later described as normal conditions.
The aircraft landed on the airport’s north runway at 3:52 p.m. local time. According to information released by Taoyuan International Airport Corporation, the right main landing gear lost a tire as the jet touched down. Despite the sudden failure, the pilots maintained control of the aircraft, keeping it on the runway centerline before guiding it onto the taxiway.
By 3:54 p.m., the aircraft had safely reached parking stand A2, where it came to a complete stop. Ground teams moved in swiftly to secure the aircraft and begin assessing the condition of the landing gear. The absence of injuries among passengers and crew provided immediate relief, but the missing tire and associated debris created an entirely different problem for airport authorities and hundreds of travelers circling in the skies or waiting on the ground.
Runway Closed and Operations Cut in Half
The loss of a wheel on a main landing gear is treated as a serious incident because it can scatter metal fragments, rubber, and structural components along the landing path. Even a small piece of debris left on the runway can threaten subsequent arrivals and departures. In response, airport authorities at Taoyuan immediately suspended operations on the north runway.
With one of its two main runways closed, Taiwan Taoyuan International shifted temporarily to single runway operations using the south runway. Controllers had to quickly reconfigure arrival and departure sequences, pushing back scheduled movements and instructing inbound aircraft to hold or slow down. It was a classic example of how a localized technical failure on one aircraft can ripple out across an entire airfield’s operations within minutes.
During the closure, specialized runway inspection teams fanned out along the north runway, locating and marking all foreign object debris. Only once every visible fragment had been collected and safety checks were completed did the airport give the all clear. The north runway resumed operations at 5:35 p.m., nearly two hours after the incident, but by then the disruption had created a complex backlog of flights that would take time to untangle.
From Minor Delay to Airport Gridlock
At first glance, the disruption figures might sound manageable: Taoyuan International reported that 14 flights were directly affected, including eight arrivals and six departures, with most delays held within about 20 minutes. Yet these topline statistics mask the more chaotic reality experienced by many travelers caught in the system at the wrong moment.
Japan Airlines flight JL8671, arriving shortly after the T’way aircraft, became a visible casualty of the disruption. With the north runway closed for inspections, the aircraft was forced to wait on a taxiway for roughly an hour while foreign object debris clearing continued. For passengers already in their seats and expecting a quick taxi to the terminal, that delay, combined with limited information from the cockpit and cabin, amplified the sense of being trapped amid a growing gridlock.
Inside the terminal, departure boards began to flicker with new estimated times, and check in agents found themselves fielding a stream of questions from anxious travelers headed onward to other Asian hubs or connecting international flights. Even relatively short delays can trigger missed transfers, hurried rebooking efforts, and a domino effect of schedule disruptions that stretch through the evening.
Onboard the T’way Flight: Relief Mixed with Unease
For those seated on T’way Air’s Flight TW687, the drama was both more personal and strangely invisible. Passengers reported feeling a firm but not abnormal landing. Unlike dramatic tire bursts that are sometimes accompanied by loud bangs or smoke visible from the cabin, the detachment of a tire on one side of the main landing gear can be largely imperceptible to those on board, especially when crews keep the aircraft steady.
Only after the plane reached the parking stand and passengers noticed an unusually heavy security and maintenance presence outside the windows did it become clear that something out of the ordinary had occurred. Some travelers described seeing emergency vehicles positioned nearby as a precaution, a standard response whenever there is an anomaly involving the landing gear or runway integrity.
While no injuries were reported and cabin crew kept passengers calm, the knowledge that a piece of the landing gear had come off during touchdown understandably left many unsettled. For vacationers returning from a relaxing Jeju getaway, the realization that their aircraft experienced a serious mechanical incident on arrival turned an otherwise uneventful journey into a story they will likely retell for years.
What Went Wrong with the Landing Gear
As of Sunday night, investigators had not yet publicly detailed the precise technical cause behind the tire loss. Aircraft landing gear systems are designed with built in redundancies, including multiple tires on each main leg, to ensure a margin of safety even in the event of a failure. In this case, that redundancy appears to have worked as intended, allowing the Boeing 737 to land and taxi safely despite the loss of one wheel.
Possible explanations range from material fatigue and manufacturing defects to maintenance issues or foreign object damage that may have compromised the tire or hub assembly prior to landing. Modern commercial tires endure extreme stress, from high speed takeoffs and landings to rapid temperature changes, and are subject to rigorous inspection cycles. Any failure on arrival will prompt airlines and regulators to scrutinize maintenance records, component histories, and recent inspection logs.
Authorities in Taiwan have already notified the Civil Aviation Administration, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board. These agencies will collaborate with their counterparts in South Korea, T’way Air’s technical teams, and the aircraft’s component manufacturers to determine what went wrong and whether broader fleet wide checks are warranted.
Authorities Respond and Promise Enhanced Safeguards
In public statements following the incident, Taoyuan International Airport officials emphasized that safety remained their overriding priority. Shutting down the north runway, while disruptive, was described as a necessary precaution to eliminate any risk to subsequent flights. The airport reiterated that it followed established procedures for aircraft incidents and major accidents, including immediate communication with regulatory authorities and adherence to international safety reporting protocols.
The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board is expected to lead or coordinate a formal investigation, gathering data from cockpit voice and flight data recorders, interviewing crew, and analyzing maintenance documentation. While this type of incident is categorized as an aircraft occurrence rather than a full scale accident, it will still be subject to meticulous analysis because it involves the structural integrity of a critical flight component.
Airport management has also pledged to strengthen runway inspection routines and foreign object debris prevention measures. That likely means more frequent sweeps of active runways, enhanced surveillance of taxi and maintenance areas where small objects can migrate onto the pavement, and additional staff training on rapid debris identification. Such steps are intended not only to reassure the traveling public but also to satisfy regulators that every reasonable precaution is being taken to prevent recurrence.
Impact on T’way Air’s Reputation and Regional Network
T’way Air, a well established South Korean low cost carrier, has in recent years positioned itself as a convenient bridge between Korean cities such as Seoul, Daegu, and Jeju and multiple destinations across Taiwan. Routes like Jeju to Taipei attract both Korean outbound tourists heading to Taiwan’s cultural and culinary attractions and Taiwanese travelers drawn to Jeju’s coastal scenery and hiking trails.
An incident involving landing gear components naturally raises questions among passengers about maintenance standards and fleet oversight, even when there are no injuries. For a carrier that promotes reliability and value as its core selling points, the images of a jet that has shed a wheel on landing are deeply unwelcome. In the short term, customer service teams will likely be kept busy reassuring travelers, adjusting bookings where needed, and answering a surge of inquiries from those scheduled to fly the same route.
However, aviation history suggests that passengers tend to respond more to how an airline handles an incident than to the incident itself. Transparent communication, cooperation with investigators, and clear evidence that corrective measures are being implemented can help T’way Air stabilize confidence. With a broad network already in place and a generally solid operational record across its Boeing 737 fleet, the carrier will be keen to frame Sunday’s tire loss as an isolated and fully addressed technical event.
Passengers’ Journey from Short Hop to Long Ordeal
Beyond operational statistics and technical jargon lies the human side of the story. For travelers on the Jeju to Taipei sector, the chain reaction that followed the tire loss transformed what should have been an easy regional hop into a long, uncertain ordeal. Those with onward connections faced an anxious scramble once they realized that runway closures and ground congestion might push them beyond their original itineraries.
Inside the terminal, families sat huddled around charging stations as they refreshed airline apps and messaged relatives waiting on the arrivals curb. Some travelers were diverted to different gates or rebooked as airlines reshuffled aircraft to accommodate missed connections and crew duty time limits. For visitors new to Taiwan, the combination of language barriers and sparse initial information heightened feelings of disorientation.
The incident also became a reminder of how quickly a sense of control can vanish when traveling by air. Even though the aircraft landed safely and the objective level of risk was managed, the emotional experience of being stuck on a taxiway, watching emergency vehicles cluster around another jet, or hearing announcements about runway closures can be deeply unsettling. For many, the journey that had started amid Jeju’s ocean breezes ended in a crowded terminal where fatigue and frustration hung as heavily as the humid air outside.
What Travelers Can Take Away from the Incident
For frequent flyers and occasional travelers alike, the T’way Air incident at Taiwan Taoyuan International is a stark reminder that even routine flights are complex operations dependent on thousands of parts and dozens of synchronized teams. While the physical risk to passengers in this case appears to have been minimal thanks to redundant systems and professional piloting, the downstream impact on schedules and comfort was significant.
From a practical standpoint, travelers passing through major hubs like Taoyuan may be more inclined to build slightly longer connection buffers into their itineraries, recognizing that unexpected runway closures or technical inspections can quickly consume tight margins. Travel insurance that covers missed connections and overnight delays may also feel less optional when events like a lost landing gear tire move from distant headlines to personal experience.
Yet the incident also underscores aviation’s strong safety culture. The swift decision to close the runway, conduct detailed debris sweeps, and coordinate with multiple agencies reflects a system designed to prioritize safety above punctuality. As investigators work through the technical details and T’way Air and Taoyuan Airport implement any recommended improvements, the hope is that future flights along the Jeju to Taipei corridor will proceed as they so often do quietly, routinely, and without passengers ever thinking about the tires that meet the runway beneath them.