Suvarnabhumi Airport is repairing a damaged taxiway after an Emirates Airbus A380 was unable to move on Monday night, the second such incident at Thailand’s largest airport in less than a week, airport officials said on Tuesday.

Emirates flight EK373, bound for Dubai, could not continue taxiing on Taxiway E21 at 9.11 pm on Monday, according to the airport. It said it called the ground-handling company Bangkok Flight Services, which sent a towing vehicle. The aircraft was moved at 10.18 pm and took off at 10.22 pm, the airport said.

An inspection found surface damage on a section of the taxiway. The airport attributed it to long periods of heavy rain and flooding around the airport, which it said increased water in the soil layers beneath the pavement. It said the extra moisture is believed to have weakened parts of the pavement, which then gave way under the weight of the A380.

Airport officials said they have started a full assessment of the structural condition of Taxiway E21 and nearby areas. Emergency repairs are planned from 7 pm on Tuesday until 8 am on Friday, a period that includes the time the repaired pavement needs to gain strength before it can be used again, the airport said.

To limit the effect on flights, the airport plans to open a newly built extension of Taxiway D near the damaged section, which the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand is inspecting. The airport said it would give aircraft another route to runway 02R-20L.

While the taxiway section is closed, the airport will work with Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (Aerothai) and air traffic control to run flights on its two remaining runways. Aerothai has confirmed that the available runways have enough capacity and that the airport does not expect any major disruption.

The airport said it will continue inspecting and strengthening damaged airside infrastructure under a long-term maintenance programme.

The latest incident followed a similar one on Runway 02R on October 28, when the landing gear of a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 became stuck in a damaged section of the runway as the aircraft prepared to take off for Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The aircraft was evacuated and moved, and the damaged section was given a temporary repair, according to the Bangkok Post. The Nation reported that five flights were delayed by about two hours and that Thailand’s Civil Aviation Authority ordered inspections of all runway and taxiway surfaces afterwards.

Sources: Bangkok Post; The Nation Thailand