Water-logging and potholes on the runway led to one flight being diverted, while two were made to do go-arounds, delaying flight schedules throughout the day.
Three days of incessant rains forced the closure of Mumbai airport for 20 minutes on Tuesday.
Water-logging and potholes on the runway led to one flight being diverted, while two were made to do go-arounds, delaying flight schedules throughout the day.
The downpour seriously affected the functioning of the main runway 09-27. “Due to rains in the afternoon, there was water-logging on the runway,” said an official from Mumbai International Airport Limited (Mial).
Heavy showers since the past three days also created potholes on the main runway. This is quite surprising as the runway had undergone pre-monsoon repairs on June 8.
A 100-metre stretch at the beginning of runway 09 was pockmarked by Tuesday afternoon, forcing its closure from 12.40pm to 1pm for emergency repair works. As runway 09 is used for landing, it severely affected arrival of flights. “Kingfisher flight IT 306 Delhi-Mumbai was diverted to Ahmedabad, while two Air India flights, IC 865 Jamnagar-Mumbai and IC 148 Delhi-Mumbai, had to do a go-around of 45 minutes,” the Mial official said. The problem was compounded as the secondary runway 14-32 is not used during monsoon.
Spokespersons for Kingfisher and AI confirmed the late arrivals. Even the departures were affected, which triggered a series of consequential delays.
“More than five flight departures were delayed, which led to the rest of the flights being delayed by 20 minutes through Tuesday,” the Kingfisher spokesperson said.
When contacted, Mial confirmed the half-an-hour closure, but denied there were any potholes on the runway.
“The main runway was closed for 20 minutes to carry out maintenance. There were no pot holes, but some surface disintegration in a small area which was restored in 20 minutes and operations were resumed,” he said.
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