Airlines Deals

Day Five of torrential rains in Mumbai brought some respite for air travellers, as most had to only cope with weather related delays at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport—starting with hour-long delays in the morning.

But airline schedules were severely affected with the closure of the main runway 09-27 for two hours, due to urgent repair work.

‘‘Urgent maintenance work was done on runway 09-27 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Wednesday between 2.01 pm and 4 pm,’’ read an statement issued by the Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd—the joint venture company tasked with the modernisation and upgradation of the airport.

‘‘Because of the incessant rains, portions of the runway had come undone with loose gravel seen on the tarmac,’’ said an airport source.

Urgent patchwork had to be immediately carried out, which necessitated the runway closure, as gravel may result in foreign object damage to an aircraft, the source explained.

However, the secondary runway 14-32 was made available to operators, the MIAL release added. But with the exception of Air Sahara and Kingfisher, other airlines didn’t use the same because of poor visibility and higher minima required for take-off and landing.

Despite the odds, over 95 per cent domestic flights operated from Mumbai—Indian had no cancellations, but combined three flights on the Goa, Delhi and Bangalore sectors. Newer entrants Kingfisher, SpiceJet and GoAir—they have fewer daily frequencies—also operated all Mumbai flights.

While Air Deccan and Air Sahara had five and three cancellations respectively, Jet Airways cancelled a Porbunder flight, in addition to clubbing flights on the Bangalore sector. Meanwhile, Airport Director R J Treasuryvala refused comment.