During this time, the intersection of the main and secondary runways will be repaired.
Fliers who have Mumbai on their itinerary in the next two months would do better to book ahead as a revamp at the world's busiest single-runway airport is going to throw flight schedules awry and ground flights, setting off a scramble for tickets, with fares likely to surge as much as 80 per cent.
Starting February 7 till March 30, the airport's two runways will be shut for six hours between 11 am and 5 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, forcing more than 230 cancellations of domestic and international flights on each of these days.
During this time, the intersection of the main and secondary runways will be repaired.
An official from Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said that flights to Goa, Delhi, and Bengaluru will be affected the most as they will witness the most cancellations. "The airline companies have been told way in advance about the repair work so they can accommodate fliers accordingly," the official said.
A number of flights on the Mumbai-Jaipur route will also be hit. Of the eight flights between the two state capitals, three operate during the day. The flights are run by Indigo, Jet Airways and Air India, between 9:30 am and 1:55 pm.
On the day of Holi on March 21, however, the airport will remain fully operational.
Aloke Bajpai, CEO of ixigo travel portal, said, "Travellers can expect an increase in fares due to cancellation and rescheduling of flights from Mumbai airport starting next month. We are expecting an average increase of 80-85% in airfares for flights from Mumbai to key routes including Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai."
The situation will be severe as Mumbai airport's two runways intersect each other, effectively functioning as one as far as take-offs and landings are concerned, unlike in Delhi which has parallel runways.
A similar block on flights was scheduled in October last year.
Mumbai airport is the busiest single-runway airport in the world, operating over 950 flights in a single day. It has already crossed its capacity of 40 million passengers, having handled over 49 million passengers last year.
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