Runway trouble: Over 160 flights cancelled

The aircraft was carrying 183 passengers

More than 160 flights were cancelled from both domestic and international terminals of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) due to heavy rain. The main runway had to be closed for at least 13 hours, leaving the secondary one for operations. Around 10 pm Tuesday, a SpiceJet aircraft (SG703) overshot the main runway and got stuck in the mud. The runway was closed. Around two hours later, the secondary runway was declared open. The first departure from here was at 12.30 am Wednesday, while the first arrival was at 1.30 am, officials said.

On Wednesday, the main runway had been used for arrivals and the secondary for departures for an hour. However, a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) order was issued to suspend operations on the main runway till 2 pm.“

We are experiencing heavy rainfall and bad tail winds. The flights are taking off and landing from the secondary runway…,” said an official from the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) in the morning.

In all, 161 cancellations including 77 arrivals and 84 departures were recorded from midnight till 8 pm. There was only one diversion and six go-arounds, said officials. They said arrival and departure of flights witnessed delay of 30 minutes to one hour.

There was rush of stranded passengers till afternoon. Enquiries at helpline numbers, check-in counters and airline desks about the status of flights continued till noon. “We had to attend to multiple calls on Tuesday… We took turns to ensure every query was answered,” said an official from the helpline desk at CSIA. “My sister had arrived from Surat by bus on Tuesday.

After waiting till 2 am on Wednesday, her flight was cancelled and she had to spend her night looking for another flight to reach UK for her orientation ceremony in college, which she eventually missed,” said Swati Prasad, a passenger.

Many passengers went home while others spent the night at the airport to catch re-scheduled flights. Cab drivers reported more than 50 per cent increase in passengers at the arrival section throughout Wednesday. “We had made three trips from the airport till Wednesday afternoon, which is unusual,” said Kanhaiya Singh, leader of a cab union at the airport.

Many airlines offered discounts and waived cancellation charges, while some including IndiGo offered complete refund to passengers who could not fly. “Out of the total cancellations received between today and yesterday, 50 per cent were on flights to and from Mumbai. We waived Yatra cancellation charges for flights on this route,” said Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com.