Mumbai airport main runway still shut; may reopen by noon

Mumbai, Sep 3: The main runway of the international airport here remained shut on Saturday morning as incessant rains hampered towing away of a Turkish Airline plane stuck in mud near the taxiway, officials said.

Continuous rain in the airport area has made the ground near the main runway more slushy, preventing movement of equipment for towing away the stranded plane. Therefore, the main runway is likely to resume operations only by noon, a Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson told PTI.

A Turkish Airlines aircraft from Istanbul, with 104 passengers and crew on board, skidded off the taxiway at the international airport in the wee hours on Friday. The landing gear of the Airbus 340-300 got stuck in mud near the runway, disrupting flight operations.

The arrival and departure of flights from the second runway is getting delayed by around 30 minutes, the spokesperson said.

Last night, the airport authorities had said that the main runway will be reopened for flights at 10 am today.

PTI