Mumbai airport gets upgraded landing system but rain delays flights

The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) has announced that the upgraded Instrument Landing System (ILS) of the main runway was operationalised from Sunday, two days before the scheduled time.

The ILS, which was put into effect from midnight, is an aid that provides pilots guidance to land with greater precision. However, 510 flights were delayed till 10.30pm on Sunday.

The first thunderstorms of the season on Saturday night affected flight operations and ten flights had to be diverted between 8am on Saturday and 10pm on Sunday, said an airport official. An AAI official said, “Although the ILS was to be implemented from 5.30am on Sunday, we commenced flight operations through it since midnight itself. Availability of ILS will mean lesser air congestion and lesser flight delays.” The ILS upgradation work commenced on May 17 and was scheduled to be carried out till June 5.

Around 152 arriving flights saw an average delay of 10 minutes and 358 departing flights reported an average delay of 25 minutes on Sunday. According to flightradar24, a Swedish, internet-based service that shows real-time aircraft and flight information on a map , 75% of departing and 31% of arriving flights at Mumbai airport were delayed on Sunday. The agency also stated that 312 departing and 168 arriving flights were delayed on Saturday.

Airport officials said minor delays noticed on Sunday could not be attributed to air traffic congestion alone. “While some could be airline delays, some other could be the cascading effect of thunderstorm and rains. However, 20 minutes delay is considered to be normal during peak hours,” said an official.