Brace for flight disruptions as Delhi, Mumbai airport to see runway repairs

Air passengers should brace for delays and disruptions, as Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital and Mumbai will close their runways for maintenance at different periods starting next month and stretching through the first quarter of 2019.

IGIA's one of the runways will be closed for repair work for 13 days starting November 15, according to a communication. The airport, operated by DIAL, is the busiest aerodrome in the country and has three runways.

Runway 27/09 would be closed for "preventive repairs" next month while two other runways -- 11/29 and 10/28 -- would be operational.

The airport handled 63.5 million passengers in 2017-18. The airport has around 1,300 flight movements every day.

In a statement, DIAL said it was planning the closure of runway 27/09 to carry out preventive repairs.

"The works are scheduled to be undertaken for 13-day duration starting from November 15, 2018. This will lower the capacity of IGI Airport by 50 arrivals and 50 departures per day in this duration," a DIAL spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said these works are essential for safe aircraft operations and to avoid sudden disruptions that cause greater impact due to time required for planning the logistics.

According to an Air India official, around 200 domestic flight departures and arrivals are likely to be affected by the runway closure.

A spokesperson for Vistara said the airline has decided to cancel as well as re-schedule some flights during the runway closure period.

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) is a consortium led by the GMR group. Other stakeholders are the government-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Germany's Fraport.

Mumbai runway repair work to begin from Oct 23

Mumbai airport will also undertake runway maintenance and repair in two phases between October and March, a move that is likely to affect as many as 300 flights per day during the period.

Due to the work, both the runways-- 09/27 and 14/32-- will remain shut for operations between 11 am and 5 pm on October 23, a spokesperson said.

In the second phase, the maintenance and repair work on the intersection will be carried out between February 7 and March 30 (except on March 21) from 11 am to 5 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The GVK group-run Mumbai airport, which is the second busiest in the country, has two crossing runways--09/27 (the main) and 14/32 (the secondary runway).

The last time such a work was carried out in 2009-10, the official said.

While the primary runway can handle up to 50 arrivals and departures an hour against the decalred capacity of 46, the secondary runway has a capacity of 35 flight movements an hour.The airport handles about 1,000 flights a day on average.