Shut runways in Mumbai leave Indore patient stuck, operations to be normal on Wednesday

With the runways at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport shut for six hours for maintenance on Tuesday, an air ambulance carrying a comatose patient had to delay its landing in the city.

According to airport officials, the passenger was to leave Indore’s Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport around 10am and expected to land in Mumbai around 11.30am.

The two runways were shut between 11am and 5pm. “The patient was brought to Mumbai for medical treatment only after the operations resumed,” said an airport official.

The runways were shut from Monday for monsoon-related maintenance work, leading to cancellation of 225 flights on both the days.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said Monday’s work had no cascading effect on the flights on

Tuesday morning.

“We handed over the departure slots a little later than 11am, as more departing flights were to be sent. Flight operations will return to normalcy after midnight,” said an AAI official, at the time of going to press on Tuesday.

Airport officials maintained that an average delay of 25 minutes. Officials said a Navy helicopter, Seaking 42B, made an emergency landing around 8.45pm. The aircraft and crew were reported safe.

Aloke Bajpai, ixigo CEO and co-founder, said, “The temporary closure of the main runway at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai continues to affect travellers.”

“On Tuesday morning, the number of inbound flight delays increased to 6%, compared to 4% on Monday. The number of outbound flight delay was up by 10%, compared to 8% on Monday. The situation will normalise on Wednesday,” said

Bajpai.