Repair work to cause long delays at Mumbai airport from Tuesday

Mumbai Passengers flying in and out of the nations financial capital should brace for long delays from Tuesday till the end of November as the only runway of the nations second busiest airport will be shut for five hours for repair workLast time the airport operated by the GVK Group was shut for similar repair work in November 2010 Months after the spanking new terminalT2 over Rs 12000crore was opened in FebruaryOperations will be partly hit between October 18 and 31 for four hours between 1200 hrs and 1600 hrs for seven days on alternate days as the main runway Runway No 0927 will be closed for surface repair But the secondary runway 1432 will be open during these hours a MIAL Mumbai International Airport Ltd official told PTIBut operations will be completely shut for five hours from 1200 hrs to 1700 hrs in the second phase beginning October 31 through November 28 as both the main and the secondary runways will be closed the official said adding this is needed as the repair work involves intersection workIn total between October 31 and November 28 both the runways will be closed for five hours on Mondays and Thursdays while in the first phase the main runway will be closed for four hours on seven days the official saidIn total the impact will be for nine days in November in the second phase of closure Notably the second busiest airport in the country Mumbai International Airport has only one runway as onethird of the airport land is occupied by slum squatters yet it manages around 50 flights during peak hours making it one of the most efficient airports in the world in terms of aircraft handlingOn an average the city airport handles over 800 flights a day Against this the Delhi airport with three runways handles around 78 flights during peak hoursThe runways0927 main and 1432will remain closed between 1200 hrs and 1700 hrs on Mondays and Thursdays till November 28 to conduct preventive runway surface work a technology to fill in gaps on the runway MIAL had said in an earlier statement last month wherein it advised airlines to reschedule their operationsTo avert delays and inconvenience to passengers most of the airlines have started alternative plan of action Lowcost carrier Indigo has said it would waive cancellation and rescheduling charges for flights affected by the closureJet Airways said in a statement today in light of the forthcoming closure of the Mumbai Airport runway from October 18 to endNovember we have revised our flight schedules for some of its flights arriving intodeparting from MumbaiWe are taking proactive steps to keep guests updated of revised timings and reaccommodation on alternate flights wherever necessary Guests are also advised to check the revised schedules and updates on our website it saidSimilarly the largest carrier Indigo too said since the airport will not be available for operations between October 31 and November 28 on Mondays and Thursdays between 1200 and 1700 hrs it is rescheduling flights to and fro Mumbai and passengers are requested to check the new timings with the airlineVistara is also coming up with a plan to adjust its operations according to the runway changes Incidentally Air India which has the largest number of operations from the airport is yet to announce its alternate arrangements