If it’s Tuesday, brace yourself for flight delays

Mumbai: Brace yourself for delays, if you are flying in or out of Mumbai on Tuesdays for the next three months or so.
Mumbai International Airport Limited has begun re-carpeting of the secondary runway, and work on the intersection of the two runways will be taken up for six hours from 12 noon to 6 pm beginning this Tuesday.
With only about 5,700 feet of the 11,000 feet main runway available, airlines have rescheduled or cancelled some flights during this period. Air traffic controllers and airlines admit there could be long delays as all flights will get bunched up before and after the closure.
During this six-hour period on Tuesdays, large planes like Boeing 747 or Boeing 777 won’t be able take off or land as such aircraft require over 8,000 feet for landing. Though an Airbus A-320 requires about 6,000 feet, an official from Indigo which operates Airbus A-320 said their flights will not operate to/from Mumbai during the six hours Tuesdays.
An Air India spokesperson said while the airline has rescheduled its flights, there are no cancellations. A Jet Airways spokesperson said that some flights had been combined and rescheduled, and the aircraft type for two flights has been changed in view of the shortened runway.
Movement of even some smaller planes, such as the Boeing 737 series or an Airbus A-319, which can take off or land using 5,700 feet runway length, will be determined by the tailwind component, visibility and load factor.
26/10/09 Aneesh Phadnis/Mumbai Mirror

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Categories: Airports Oct 2009