Mumbai airport runway to remain shut till Tuesday evening, over 120 flights hit

The closure of runway of Mumbai airport for two consecutive days has led to the cancellation of more than 120 flights. The runway at the airport was shut from 11 am to 5 pm on Monday, April 9, and will continue to remain shut during the same time period on Tuesday.

According to airport authorities, the runway is being shut for repair works ahead of the monsoon. Taking it into consideration, Air India has already cancelled 34 flights and rescheduled eight others. Jet Airways has also cancelled 64 domestic and six international flights.

The 12,008-foot runway was built to handle 46 take-offs and departures in one hour. But it has often witnessed more than 50 movements in an hour.

Airlines took to social media to post their revised schedules for flights connecting to, from or through Mumbai. The runway shutdown is likely to have an effect on air traffic across the country, considering its connectedness to multiple sectors.

Mumbai airport is the second busiest airport in India in terms of total and international passenger traffic after Delhi. Its passenger traffic had crossed 45 million in 2016-17. That accounts for 18.6 percent of the total air traffic of India, which is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the word. The Mumbai airport also ranks second busiest in terms of cargo traffic. 

The Mumbai airport had on January 20 broken the record for the highest number of arrivals and departures in a 24-hour period. It clocked 980 flights, breaking its own previous record of 974 flights in a single day.

The airport, which is privately run by GVK group, has connectivity with 95 domestic and international destinations. Delhi airport, which has three parallel runways, handled 5.7 crore passengers in the same year (21.6 percent of the air traffic).