Loose light shuts runway

Mumbai: Mumbai airport was shut 40 minutes for “operational reasons” during morning peak hours, disrupting schedules to and out of the city.
Departures were halted and several incoming flights told to hold over Mumbai airspace. Also, a Delhi-Mumbai Jet Airways flight was diverted to Ahmedabad. This brief, unscheduled closure, resulted in delays that continued several hours after operations had resumed.
The closure happened after the airport safety team, during a routine inspection, found that an inset light at the intersection of the two runways had turned loose. “As a safety precaution, this was taken up for urgent repair and neither runway was operational from 9.47 am to 10.27 am. Jet Airways flight 9W308 (Delhi-Mumbai) was diverted to Ahmedabad,” said a Mumbai airport spokesperson.
“Only one flight was diverted; around 10 incoming flights were asked to hold,” said M G Jhungare, general manager, Mumbai ATC.
“At the Mumbai airport, if there is a closure, then the effect is felt for many hours. In this case, it was not a scheduled closure,” said an airport official.
25/11/10 Indian Express

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Categories: Airports Nov 2010