PUNE: The departure and arrival of over 20 flights were disrupted at the Lohegaon airport here on Friday morning after a Sukhoi fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) developed a snag and stopped on the airport’s runway, leading to its closure for over an hour.

Confirming the development, the IAF authorities said there was a malfunction in its fighter plane. “The runway had to be closed to clear the jet, which switched off on the runway because of technical problems. Only one civilian flight had to be diverted,” an IAF source said.

The snag hit the aircraft while it was landing, said another source. The runway was closed from around 11.20 am to 12.40 pm.

The IAF authorities did not give any information about the technical problems of the fighter plane. It neither confirmed till the evening if an internal inquiry had been ordered to find out the reason behind the issue.

City airport authorities remained silent on the runway closure. But the closure was confirmed by Keshav Sharma, regional executive director (western region) of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). “The runway was closed for an hour,” he said.