Mumbai airport runways to shut for six hours on Monday, Tuesday

The closing of runways hit flight services badly; more than 100 flights cancelled, many rescheduled and diverted.

The two cross-runways at Mumbai airport will remain shut between 11 am and 5 pm on Monday and Tuesday for monsoon repairs.

Workers start pre-monsoon maintenance work at Mumbai airport. All runways will remain shut between 11 am and 5 pm on Monday and Tuesday. (HT Photo)

Flight services at the Mumbai airport were hit badly today with two major carriers — Jet Airways and Air India — together cancelling over 100 flights and rescheduling about 70 services.

While Jet Airways cancelled a total of 70 flights, including 54 domestic services, Air India decided not to operate about 34 flights in view of the runway closure.

Additionally, Jet Airways also rescheduled another 70 flights, including 17 international ones. Air India diverted four flights.

Maintenance work will be carried out on the intersection of the main (09) and secondary (27) runway. The airport operator — Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) had informed all airlines earlier about the planned shutdown.

All airlines operating to and from the city airport have either cancelled or rescheduled their flights during these hours. A Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was issued regarding the same, last month.

The rescheduled flights include AI 611 and 612 (Mumbai- Jaipur) and vice versa, AI 680 (Mumbai- Mangalore) and AI 696 (Varanasi- Mumbai).

A senior airport official, however, said that though all necessary measures have been taken to have minimum impact on passengers, traffic congestion is expected.

“The effect of airport closure will gradually reduce and everything will be brought to normal,” said the official.

In October, flight operations were severely hit due to a pothole on the main runway.

(With PTI inputs)