Rain delays 431 flights at city airport: Flightradar24

According to Flightradar24, a Swedish web service that shows real-time commercial flight information, 431 (291 departures and 140 arrivals) flights were delayed on Thursday.

Following the heavy rains on Wednesday, flight operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) continued to be affected on Thursday. IndiGo passengers were affected the most as the airline did not have sufficient manpower to handle the ground activities.

Following the heavy rains on Wednesday, flight operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) continued to be affected on Thursday. (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

According to Flightradar24, a Swedish web service that shows real-time commercial flight information, 431 (291 departures and 140 arrivals) flights were delayed on Thursday. However, a Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said that flight operations were normal. Fifteen departure flights, including Vistara’s UK 853 to Bengaluru, IndiGo’s 6E 5315 to Guwahati, UK 821 to Chennai, 6E 567 to Vadodara, 6E 5338 to Delhi, 6E 5301 to Bhopal, 6E 213 to Ahmedabad, 6E 715 to Bengaluru, 6E 321 to Kolkata, 6E 801 to Raipur, 6E 453 to Amritsar, Alliance Ar 9I623 to Diu, 6E 5327 to Bengaluru, UK 853 to Bengaluru and Air India AI 660 to Delhi stood cancelled.

Nine arriving flights – 6E 184 from Cochin, 6E 456 from Bengaluru, 6E 318 from Kolkata, 6E 5302 from Bhopal, 6E 5379 from Kolkata, 6E 5236 from Bengaluru, 6E 48 from Amritsar, UK 854 from Bengaluru and AI 24 from Delhi were cancelled on Thursday.

Explaining the cause of delay, a senior airport official said, “Intermittent dropping of visibility and wet runway surface led to flight delays on Thursday. Though not heavy, intermittent showers leading to poor visibility was the main issue.”

IndiGo’s Mumbai- Delhi flight 6E 6097 did not take off for more than six hours after boarding while passengers of a Jaipur-bound flight were made to sit inside the aircraft for around seven hours.

The airline said that on Wednesday, 12 domestic departures were cancelled of 138 scheduled flights. On Thursday, 16 domestic departures of 138 scheduled flights were cancelled.

“IndiGo took all measures to minimise the cancellations on both days. The situation on Thursday was normalising and IndiGo took corrective measures during the day,” said an airline spokesperson.