Saturday, January 14, 2017

Main Runway To Be Shut For Resurfacing From Feb

Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) has issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) informing pilots that the airport’s main runway will be closed for operations between 9 am and 5 pm six days a week from February 1 to April 30. The secondary runway will be used for the rest of the time.

The 90-day closure, which can impact more than 200 flights a day including international flights, is being undertaken to carry out resurfacing or tarring of the runway. “The closure is planned for Q4 which is traditionally a weak quarter. The impact is, however, still expected to be felt,” an airport source said.

Mumbai airport handles the movement of over 26,000 aircraft a month, including freighters due to high cargo volumes. Officials said that airlines have been intimated of the main runway closure and been told to prepare their summer flight schedules accordingly. Airport officials say that on an average, 45 air traffic movements an hour happen on the main runway. A simple calculation of this data indicates that a five-hour shutdown would mean that 225 movements can be affected.

Airlines like Air India, IndiGo, Go Air, Vistara and Spice Jet will have to redeploy the capacity elsewhere or schedule maintenance checks during this time. Airlines from outside Mumbai will also have to plan for diversions or file alternate flights in case of emergency.

Aviation analysts said that it would be interesting to see how airlines deal with such a closure. “Simple supply-demand dynamics indicate that rising fare levels are likely. Even so, the higher fare will not make up for the loss of revenue due to the severe reduction in capacity,” an official said.
14/01/17 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
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