Two tires of a plane operated by low-cost carrier Peach Aviation Ltd. went flat after landing at a southwestern Japanese airport Saturday morning, stranding the aircraft and causing the runway to be closed for over two hours.

There were no injuries to the 159 passengers and six crew members aboard the Airbus A320 aircraft, but the transport ministry decided to treat the case as a "serious incident" after confirming damage to the aircraft's nose landing gear in addition to the flat tires.

The plane became unable to move on its own after two tires of its nose landing gear went flat at Fukuoka airport at around 8:10 a.m., according to the ministry.

A total of 81 domestic flights and one international flight leaving and arriving at the airport were canceled due to the incident, while a total of 22 flights were forced to divert their destination to other airports including Busan in South Korea, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures in southwestern Japan.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism confirmed damage to a steering device used to change direction of the nose landing gear wheels, it said.

The ministry's safety board has decided to dispatch three officials to the site to investigate the aircraft and interview related people on Sunday.

According to Peach Aviation, it found no abnormality to the tires when the aircraft was checked before leaving Kansai airport. "We sincerely offer apologies. We will cooperate fully with the investigation by the Japan Transport Safety Board, while the company will work as one to recover trust," it said.

The passengers of the aircraft were transported to a terminal building some 90 minutes after the incident occurred.

"I didn't feel a big impact. I couldn't see what was going on outside so I felt uneasy about having to wait inside the plane," a 62-year-old man said, looking tired at Fukuoka airport, which was packed due to a series of flight cancellations.