Chennai: Flight operations at Chennai came to a stand still for more than an hour after a portion of the runway which was freshly re-carpeted got damaged, spilling debris onto the touch down point at the Trident end of the main runway on Thursday.
Sources said that more than 60m of the runway got peeled off when a Saudia Airlines flight took off at 7.50pm. The debris from the newly-laid portion that got chipped off flew and was strewn all over the runway in the impact of the take-off. An Air India pilot who noticed this informed the air traffic control that it may not be safe to allow aircraft to land on the runway.
More than seven flights had to be diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad as the runway had to be closed for 75 minutes. Late on Thursday night, airport director Deepak Shastri said that the runway was closed for a while, before the debris was removed. "Flights have started landing from around 9.15 pm," he said. An Emirates flight and a Jet Airways flight were the first to land after debris were removed.
04/09/15 V Ayyappan/Times of India
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Sources said that more than 60m of the runway got peeled off when a Saudia Airlines flight took off at 7.50pm. The debris from the newly-laid portion that got chipped off flew and was strewn all over the runway in the impact of the take-off. An Air India pilot who noticed this informed the air traffic control that it may not be safe to allow aircraft to land on the runway.
More than seven flights had to be diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad as the runway had to be closed for 75 minutes. Late on Thursday night, airport director Deepak Shastri said that the runway was closed for a while, before the debris was removed. "Flights have started landing from around 9.15 pm," he said. An Emirates flight and a Jet Airways flight were the first to land after debris were removed.
04/09/15 V Ayyappan/Times of India
