A SpiceJet flight from Jaipur overshot the runway after landing amid heavy rains on Monday. The aircraft is stuck partially on the runway and the nearby grass area.
The main runway of the Mumbai airport will remain closed for flight operations till Thursday as it will take more time to remove the SpiceJet plane that was stuck partially on the runway on Monday.
Heavy rains in the city have already disrupted operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, with over 100 flights being cancelled or diverted on Tuesday.
A SpiceJet flight from Jaipur carrying 167 passengers and crew overshot the runway after landing amid heavy rains. The aircraft is stuck partially on the runway and the nearby grass area.
Due to runway excursion by the arriving aircraft, the main runway is not available and the secondary runway is put in use. Please expect delays in flight operations. Our team is trying their best to bring the main runway back in operation and this may take up to 48 hrs," airport authorities said in a statement.
Passengers have been advised to check with the airline before travelling to the airport. As the traffic is badly hit in Mumbai due to waterlogged roads and train tracks, the airport has also advised flyers to allocate sufficient travel time for reaching the airport.
Meanwhile, a team of engineers and technicians from Air India has started work to remove the stuck plane with the Disabled Aircraft Recovery Kit (DARK). The kit, used to remove stuck aircraft, is only available with the national carrier, an Air India spokesperson said.
"A 150-metre long ramp is being prepared to enable push the aircraft out of the grassy area. Air India's disable aircraft removal kit has been mobilised," an official of the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said.
MIAL is the airport operator.
The officials said the aircraft is likely to removed by Thursday and then the runway would be fully operational.
"Currently, secondary runway is in use. Our team is trying their best to bring the main runway back into operation and this may take up to 48 hours," MIAL said in a tweet.
Mumbai airport has two runways and the second one can handle only up to 35 aircraft movements per hour while the main runway can handle 48 plane movements every hour, according to MIAL.
The city's airport is the second busiest in the country, handling around 1,000 arrivals and departures per day. The airport in Delhi is the busiest as it handles around 1,300 movements per day.
As many as 52 flights were cancelled and another 55 diverted, including 29 domestic and 26 international ones, till about 10 am Tuesday due to "inclement" weather and runway closure since Monday late evening, a MIAL official said.
The Monday's incident was the second in one week of a SpiceJet aircraft overshooting the runway.
As the arrival of monsoon has brought rains to different parts of the country, incidents of plans veering off the runway have increased dramatically.
SpiceJet aircraft from Pune veered off from the runway at the Kolkata Airport, because of wet tarmac and heavy rainfall on Tuesday, the airline's spokesperson said.
On June 30, a SpiceJet plane from Bhopal veered off the runway at Surat airport due to heavy rainfall and wind. An Air India Express flight veered off the taxiway after landing and got stuck in soft ground at the Mangalore airport on the same day.
Indian aviation regulator DGCA has issued safety directions to airlines in the wake of multiple incidents of planes overshooting runways while operating amidst bad weather conditions.
The regulator said that the airlines must "make available sufficiently experienced crew in the cockpit".
The DGCA circular also said that the crew rostering should factor in the "fatigue element associated with the operations during adverse weather conditions".
A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told PTI that it is probing the incidents of planes overshooting runways.
(With PTI inputs)
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