Runway gives landing blues

Passengers from Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata were kept hovering above Mumbai airport for an hour due to problems on the runway on Friday afternoon.

It also led to around 15 flights of Jet Airways, Indian, Air Deccan and Spice Jet being delayed, leaving passengers stranded on the ground.

“A circle of depression (damage due to broken tar) was found at the beginning point (aircraft touch-down spot) on the runway 14-side (secondary runway), which led to the closure for 30 minutes,” airport sources said.

The main runway, 9-27, was closed from 1.15 pm to 1.45 pm due to refurbishment of the Instrument Landing System; during the closure period, the secondary runway was opened to avoid delays, Air Traffic Control sources added.

After detecting the depression on the runway, which was caused by a sharp turn of an aircraft on secondary runway 14-side, the main runway was opened again after sometime.

But the runway 9-side faced tail winds- the wind was in the direction of landings( which makes aircraft landing difficult and risky during landing). This is said to be the second such incident in past two months.

However, Mumbai Airport Director, RJ Treasuriwala, refused to comment on the matter.