Starting tomorrow, the main runway of the airport will remain closed for a fortnight between 10.30 am and
4 pm. This means all your domestic and international flights will land and take-off only during the night and early in the morning.

A Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) communiqué issued yesterday states that the main runway would be closed for post-monsoon maintenance. "The repair has become unavoidable at this time, as the secondary runway is also due for major maintenance in November and will be completely closed for operations for quite some time next year," said an airport official.

Rubber deposits

Officials at the airport revealed that the touchdown point on the main runway requires scraping of rubber and also repairs to some cracks. "All the airline operators have been asked to reschedule their flights since the secondary runway has limitations on taxiing, take-off and landing time," the official said.

Aviation expert Vipul Saxena explained that frictional properties of runway surface is essential for safe landing and take-off, as collection of rubber on the surface reduces friction and may cause skidding of the aircraft and also adversely affect the braking.

Runways, over a period of time, collect rubber deposits of the tyres during take-off and landing.

Saxena justified the timing of this work saying, "In the past few months, air traffic at Mumbai airport, which handles over 25-30 landings and take-offs per hour, has dipped due to airfare hike. Also with the tourist season between October and March, a major chunk of international traffic is now shared by Goa airport as well," explained Saxena.