Main runway operations begin at Mumbai airport

The airport operator removed the SpiceJet aircraft which had skidded after landing amid heavy rains on Tuesday.

Mumbai, September 21: A day after heavy rainfall, Mumbai airport resumed aircraft movements at the main runway on Wednesday night. The airport operator removed the SpiceJet aircraft which had skidded after landing amid heavy rains on Tuesday.

The operations at runway 09/27 resumed at around 11:30pm after SpiceJet Boeing 737 was moved to the paved area and subsequently to a hanger, a Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) official said.

In an exercise, which lasted for almost 24 hours, undertaken by the joint engineering team of national carrier Air India and the MIAL, the aircraft was removed from the runway at around 9:30 last night.

Nearly 180 flights were cancelled during the main runway closure period, which lasted for over 25 hours.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha had earlier tweeted, "#AI team assisting #RescueOperation in removal of #SpiceJet acft from #BOM runway, the only airline in India to offer this type of facility."

Mumbai airport, the second busiest in India, has two crossing runways - 09/27 (the main)and 14/32 (the secondary runway).

Overall, there are 930 flight arrivals and departures at the Mumbai airport every day. The primary runway can handle up to 48 arrivals and departures per hour and the secondary runway has a capacity of 35 movements per hour.

PTI