Day 6 of runway repair: Flight delays down from 30 to 15 mins
MUMBAI : On the sixth day of the runway repair work at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport’s (CSMIA), officials said flight delays had drastically reduced. “Departing flights were delayed by only 15 minutes or so,” said a senior airport official on Tuesday.
Earlier, departing flights, on an average, were routinely delayed by 30 minutes.
Mumbai airport, on account of a part of its runway being re-carpeted since February 7, will remain closed for six hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays between 11am and 5pm until March 30. Flight services will continue as usual only on March 21. Airport officials said air traffic flow was smooth after the runway was opened for operations in the evening. The runway was also vacated and opened for operations around ten minutes ahead of time on Tuesday, officials said.
A senior airport official said slight traffic was noticed in the evening owing to accommodate Argentina President Mauricio Macri’s flight taking off.
According to Flightradar24, a Swedish internet-based service that shows real-time commercial aircraft flight information on a map, a total of 133 departing flights and 26 arriving flights were delayed by an average of five minutes.
“Usually we witness more departing flights lined up before the runway shuts at 5pm, which leads to some congestion. However, the situation is being handled well,” another airport official said.