Quarry owners’ strike pushes back deadline for secondary runway repair

Mumbai: Flight delays are likely to stay at Mumbai airport, with the deadline for completion of reconstruction of the secondary runway now getting another extension — from March 11 to April 8. The officials have cited the recent strike by quarry owners and operators in Thane, Navi Mumbai, Uran, Kalyan, Raigad and Panvel who supply sand and aggregate for the delay.
The Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) conveyed its revised schedule in a letter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airports Authority of India last week.
The stocks of sand and aggregate have started depleting though the airport had stored them at construction sites. The stocks will now be enough for only the reconstruction of the intersection of cross runways.
Only half the main runway is available for operations every Tuesday, for six hours, owing to repairs on the intersection of the cross runways.The quarry operators’ strike had ended on Monday, but the supply is expected to resume only after a couple of days.
03/03/10 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Categories: Airports Mar 2010