The main runway of the country's second busiest airport, the Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj international airport, will remain closed for operations for five months, except Sundays, starting November 1, an official said on Friday. The runway is being shuttered to carry out re- carpeting the tarmac, said the official. The move is expected to cause inconvenience to passengers as airlines may have to curtail their schedules. It can be noted that the Mumbai is the world's busiest single-runway airport, handling close to 1,000 aircraft movements a day.

"The main runway 09/27 will not be available for aircraft operations from November to March 2020, for six days--Mondays to Saturdays--between 09:30 am and 5.30 pm, due to major rehabilitation and re-carpeting works," an airport spokesperson said in a statement. However, during the runway closure period, the secondary runway14/32 will be available for aircraft operations, the statement said. It also said the main runway will be available for operations on all Sundays as well as on December 25, January 1 and 15, February 19 and 21 and also on March 10 and 25.