Airlines play safe, Tuesday flight operations dip 35%

Mumbai: Flight operations at the Mumbai airport saw a dip this Tuesday as wary airlines rescheduled or cancelled their afternoon flights to avert trouble on the shortened runway. Only 58 flight arrivals and departures were reported between 1pm and 5pm on runway 27A, a 35% decline compared to the last three Tuesdays.
Flight operations on Tuesdays have become unsafe at the airport as aircraft have to land on a curtailed 1,703-metre runway due to repair work. Four near-fatal accidents took place on the stretch on November 3 and November 10.
On the last three Tuesdays, around 73 to 84 flights operated during short runway operations. "This is almost a decline of 35%," said an airport official.
Fear of mishaps playing on the mind, the Mumbai Air Traffic Control (ATC) diverted Delhi-Mumbai JetLite flight S2 107 to Ahmedabad as the captain was not a trainer pilot as prescribed by the director general of civil aviation (DGCA).
"Before the final approach, the captain told us that he was not trained for short runway operations and wanted to divert the flight to Ahmedabad," said an ATC official. The flight later reached Mumbai at 6.45pm.
GoAir did not operate any flight between 1pm and 5pm while Air India, which operates one flight (IC 164 Goa-Mumbai) that reaches here at 3.45pm, postponed it to 6pm.
Kingfisher, whose aircraft had skidded last Tuesday, did not cancel or reschedule any of its afternoon flights.
18/11/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Nov 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Nov 2009, Safety Nov 2009