Mumbai, Oct 19 (Mumbai Mirror): Mumbai airport started the much-needed repair work to its main runway on Tuesday. This will bring down its operational capability between 12 pm and 4 pm till the end of November, as during these four hours only the secondary runway will be in use.
A Mumbai airport spokesperson said that there were no severe delays, despite the use of only one runway. “Handover of the runway was on time and went as planned,” the spokesperson said. Live flight tracking site Flightradar24.com reported a seven minute delay overall. A 33 minute delay was reported in departures with 82 per cent of flights delayed. Four per cent of cancellation in departures was also reported. On the arrivals front, the live tracking site reported a 31 per cent delay.
The main runway will be closed for repair and the secondary runway used till the end of October and throughout November for four hours from 12 pm to 4 pm on all days except Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. The repair work will take place on the following dates: October 18, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29 and 30 and November 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 26, 27, 29, 30.
Additionally, from October 31 till the end of November, both runways will be closed from 12 pm to 5 pm every Monday and Thursday, meaning that in November both runways will be operational all day only on Fridays.
All major airlines said their contact centres were taking proactive steps to keep passengers updated of the revised timings and reaccommodation on alternate flights where necessary, via SMS and phone calls.
Tyre burst on day 1
Meanwhile, the first day opened to a tyre burst on Air India flight AI 614 which landed in Mumbai from Ahmedabad at 8.55 am. Airport officials say the Airbus 320, which was carrying 128 passengers, departed from Ahmedabad at 7.30 am and its tyre burst when it was taxying to its parking bay.
An AI spokesperson confirmed that the tyre burst after landing. “All passengers are safe,” he said. As it was to further fly to Raipur as AI 651, he added that the airline had already pressed another aircraft into service.