Mumbai: Following the alleged pothole-induced delay on the main runway at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Sunday, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) on Monday undertook extensive repairs, due to which the runway remained closed for an additional 75 minutes over and above the stipulated 120 minutes for maintenance.
The runway is closed for two hours twice a week on Monday and Thursday for maintenance purposes. According to fliers, flights out of Mumbai Monday evening were delayed by about 30 minutes. Clarifying that the incident on Sunday was “not due to any pothole or crater”, the official spokesperson of MIAL said that the main runway had been “closed for a few hours as a thin layer of the runway surface, between N1 and N3, had peeled off at a particular spot.”
“The surface peeled off due to heavy rains the previous night and considering this, MIAL took a decision not to use the runway in the interest of safety of passengers and flights. The runway became functional after the damage to the surface was rectified,” said the spokesperson, adding that the secondary runway was in use during this period and the delay was for about half-an-hour.
The spokesperson said that in light of the peeling off incident, MIAL had decided to extend the time for its bi-weekly maintenance work by an hour on Monday and regular friction tests were being carried out on the runway to ascertain wear and tear as per guidelines of competent authorities both at the national and international level. Meanwhile, the extended maintenance time on Monday affected incoming and outgoing flights as some private operators informed their passengers to expect a delay of about 30 minutes till 11 pm.
