Main runway at Mumbai airport shut for 7 hrs daily till Feb 17, except on Feb 7 and 14

Passengers travelling from Mumbai airport may face inconvenience till February 17, as flights could be delayed. The main runway will be shut from 10am to 5pm for the upgradation of a component in the instrument landing system (ILS), which will help the ILS guide aircraft to the centre of the runway.

The upgradation work started on Thursday and flight operations were taking place from the secondary runway 14/32, which is shorter compared to the main runway. Aircraft using the shorter runway take more time to take-off and land. This means flights will be delayed. Usually only one runway can be used because the runways cross each other and are not parallel.

A Mumbai Airport International Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL) spokesperson confirmed the development. According to senior airport officials, the upgradation of the component called ‘localiser’ will help the aircraft to align to the centre of the runway even at a distance of 50km. Officials confirmed that the main runway will be operational on Wednesdays as the secondary runway will be closed for routine weekly maintenance work.

When asked about the benefit of upgrading the component, a senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said, “This upgradation of the component will help in precision landing of aircraft, which means that it will help in their safer landing.”

After witnessing delays on Thursday, airlines took to Twitter to inform their passengers about flight delays to and from the city airport. Though the main runway will be operational post 5pm, backlogs are expected to result in further flight delays, claimed an airport official. Jet Airways tweeted, “#9Wupdate: Due to main runway unavailability at #MumbaiAirport between 1000 and 1700 hrs till 17th Feb (except 7 & 14 Feb), our flights to & from Mumbai may get affected.” Indigo too alerted their passengers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport.