Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport will not operate flights every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon till March 30 because of major repair work on its runways. Flight operations will stop from 11 am to 5 pm on these days, except on March 21 on the occasion of Holi.
The repair work at the airport will be carried out at the intersection of the primary and the secondary runways, reducing the total capacity of flights taking off and landing at the airport. The Mumbai airport operates about 46 flights an hour. IndiGo airline operates 103 daily flights from Mumbai and expects at least 30 flights to be affected daily when the runways would be closed, Mint reported.
“The work of re-carpeting at the intersection of both runways will be carried out during the closure,” The Hindu quoted an airport official as saying. Airport authorities said information regarding the maintenance work has been communicated to all airlines and stakeholders.
The six-hour runway closure at the airport is likely to affect more than 250 flights and fares are set to rise. Chief operating officer of online travel portal Yatra, Sharat Dhall, told Mint that fares between Mumbai and Delhi are up by over 30% during the days that the runways will be closed. “We would advise travellers to plan their travel well in advance to avoid paying these extremely high fares,” Dhall said.
Meanwhile, the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru will also be partially shut down later this month during the biennial Aero India show because of temporary closure of airspace in the city. The event will take place between February 14 and February 24.
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