394 flights delayed on the 6th day of system upgrade at Mumbai airport

ILS is a standard International Civil Aviation Organisation precision landing aid that is used to provide guidance to aircraft to land on the runway under normal or adverse weather conditions

Around 285 flights were delayed by around 25 minutes each on Tuesday, as the upgrade of the instrument landing system (ILS) at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) entered the sixth day.

International sector gets hit when domestic flights that are not scheduled after 11pm get delayed beyond time. This then has a cascading effect on domestic as well as international sectors. (HT FILE)

ILS is a standard International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) precision landing aid that is used to provide guidance to aircraft to land on the runway under normal or adverse weather conditions. The work, being carried out from May 17 to June 5, will improve the precision while landing.

While departing flights were delayed by 30 minutes on Tuesday, arriving flights faced a delay of five minutes. According to flightradar24, a Swedish internet-based service that shows real-time aircraft flight information on a map, 94% departing flights and 62% arriving flights were delayed by around 8.30pm. Flightradar24 showed the cumulative delays in arrivals and departures increased towards the evening.

International sector gets hit when domestic flights that are not scheduled after 11pm get delayed beyond time. This then has a cascading effect on domestic as well as international sectors.

The city airport’s main runway was on Monday shut from 9.18pm to 9.40pm because an Air India flight AI 662 that took off around 7.50pm for Goa made an emergency landing at the city airport. Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL) spokesperson said, “Except SpiceJet flight SG 169 coming to Mumbai from Guwahati via Delhi that was diverted to Ahmedabad, no flights had to be diverted or cancelled throughout the day.”

Portals said the most affected routes were Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Mumbai-Delhi sector alone sees around 150 flight movements a day.

While passengers urged such planned maintenance work to be announced in advance, an airline official said they are sending out messages and emails to their guests informing them about the delays.