Mumbai: Flights to and from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport remained suspended for six hours on Monday as part of a routine pre-monsoon maintenance exercise, which included clearing the runway of rubber deposits. The exercise will continue on Tuesday as well.
As many as 170 flights were affected due to the runway’s closure. Jet Airways cancelled six international flights and rescheduled 17, and cancelled 68 domestic flights and rescheduled 46. For Air India, 34 flights were affected. Indigo, Spicejet, GoAir and Vistara rescheduled and cancelled flights.
Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which operates the airport, had announced the closure of the main runway (O9/27) between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.
On Monday, however, the runway could be handed over by the MIAL to the contractors only after a 20-minute delay as slowing down of pre-11 a.m. departures had an impact on the schedule. Work went off smoothly and the runway opened on time with the first aircraft landing at 5.03 p.m. The airport is the main base of Jet Airways, and a bulk of its operations are carried out from here.
The last flight to depart before the runway closure was a Vistara flight to Amritsar. The flight took off after a 40-minute delay at 11.20 a.m. A GoAir flight from Nagpur was the last to land. It landed eight minutes before the schedule.
Among flights that noted significant delays despite a NOTAM (notice to airmen, to alert them of potential hazards) from the MIAL were an Ethiopian Airways Cargo flight from Guangzhou, which instead of its 11 a.m. landing, arrived at 5.42 p.m., and the Spicejet flight to Goa, which took off at 5.33 p.m. against the scheduled departure at 3.35 p.m.. An Air India flight from Chennai was the first to arrive in Mumbai. After being made to circle the airport, it was cleared to land at 5.03 p.m. after the airport resumed operations.
“Due to the maintenance activities before the monsoon, the runway will be closed on April 9, 10 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guests planning their travel during this period are requested to allow for sufficient time, in case of delays, while making their bookings,” Jet Airways informed its passengers through its website ahead of the runway closure.
An Air India spokesperson said the cancellation of its flights was intimated to passengers much in advance. The MIAL requested passengers to connect with their respective airlines.
The Mumbai airport, which is the second busiest after Delhi, has two cross runways — 09/27 and 14/32 (the secondary runway). While the primary runway can handle up to 48 arrivals and departures per hour, the secondary runway has a capacity of 35 flight movements per hour. On an average, the airport handles 970 flight arrivals and departures every day.
Anti-hijack drill
Even as the flight operations remained suspended, the MIAL and the National Security Guards conducted separate drills to test their preparedness in the event of any hijack threat. The MIAL declared a plane with 33 people, including crew, as being hijacked. The drill was conducted between 11.45 a.m. and 1.30 p.m., and various response centres and control rooms were activated as per the standard operating procedure, and their entire sequence was timed for efficiency.
