Smog adds to short runway woes at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Short runway operations at the airport were affected on Tuesday because of smog, drastically bringing down flight movement to 19 -- six arrivals and 13 departures -- from 58 between 1pm to 6pm.
"The operations started at 1.02pm but were suspended at 2.07pm as visibility dropped to 1,800 metres," said a spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Limited (Mial).
The required visibility for flight operations on the short runway is 2,400 metres for aircraft types A and B (ATRs, and Airbus 319 and 320), and 2,800 metres for aircraft type C (Boeing 737, and Airbus 319, 320 and 321).
"Smoke from slums and industrial units in the airport's surroundings, and construction work in and around the airport lead to smog," said an air traffic control (ATC) official. "In the absence of wind, dust particles remain suspended in air, affecting visibility."
The situation on Tuesday led to 14 flight diversions -- 7 Jet Airways, 5 Kingfisher and 2 JetLite flights were diverted to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Aurangabad.
"Short runway operations resumed at 4.36pm and closed at 5.10pm. Full runway operations started at 6.01pm," the MIAL spokesperson said.
09/12/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Dec 2009