SpiceJet airplane stuck on runway hauled after 3 days

Mumbai: The Boeing 737 aircraft, which was stuck between the main runway and grassy area after skidding off on arrival at the airport late Monday night, was pulled back to the runway on Thursday. The aircraft was towed away to the hangar earlier in the day.

The operations from the main runway of the country’s second busiest airport were restored Friday evening, the Mumbai airport official said. The aircraft-Boeing 737 operated by SpiceJet, was finally cleared from the main runway (09/27) at 03.41 pm, paving the way for resumption of operations, an airport spokesperson said, adding subsequently the services from the main runway resumed from 04.47 pm.

The closure of the single main runway had lead to over 300 flight delays/cancellations since Monday late night at the nation's second busiest airport handling close to 1,000 flight movements a day.

The airport was carrying out operations from the secondary runway, which has a capacity to handle only up to 35 aircraft movement per hour as against 48 of the main runway. The stranded plane was towed away by team of Air India Engineering Services, who were on the job since Tuesday.

“The disabled SpiceJet aircraft which was stuck in Runway 09/27 RESA (runway end surface area) has been pulled out of the runway surface at 11.10 pm last night,” a Mumbai airport spokesperson said Friday morning.

The runway end surface area is an extended space at the end of the runway to limit an aircraft in the eventuality of a runway over-shoots.

A SpiceJet flight from Jaipur carrying 167 passengers and crew overshot the runway late Monday night after landing amid heavy rains, blocking it for traffic.