MUMBAI, July 3 (Xinhua) – Mumbai airport has cancelled 75 flights till 10 p.m. local time on Wednesday out of its daily capacity to handle up to 1,000 flights, the airport official said.
The cancellations were a fallout of a aircraft skidding on the primary runway and overshooting its mark following the rainfall in the city on Tuesday that lead to over 200 flights being cancelled at the airport and around 60 flights being diverted to other neighboring airports.
The 75 flights that are cancelled on Wednesday included 40 arrival flights and 35 departure flights.
The primary runway at the airport can handle up to 48 arrivals and departures an hour while the secondary runway can handle 35 flight movements per hour, airport officials said.
Mumbai with two intersecting runways is India’s second busiest airport after Delhi.
Meanwhile, India’s civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri commenting on the dysfunctional runway said, "Mumbai Airport has not been shut. There has been some dislocation. It will be sorted out very quickly."
According to airport officials, the main runway should be fully operational by Thursday after the aircraft that had overshot its mark and had got stuck is being removed from the runway.
Meanwhile, Indian aviation regulator has issued guidelines for airlines following a few flights overshooting runways due to heavy rainfall and wet runway over the past few weeks.
