Mumbai Airport Update: Stuck aircraft removed, main runway expected to re-open soon
As of noon today, the average delay for arrivals at Mumbai airport is 5 minutes and that for departures is 20 minutes, according to airline tracker Flightradar24
After nearly three days of heavy lifting, the SpiceJet Boeing-737 aircraft that was stuck between the main runway and grass area was finally pulled back to the runway on Thursday night.
The removal of the aircraft, which had got stuck after skidding off on arrival late Monday night, will allow full-fledged operations to resume at the busy airport.
A team of Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) had been carrying out the aircraft recovery work at the Mumbai airport since Tuesday afternoon.
“The disabled SpiceJet aircraft which was stuck in Runway 09/27 RESA has been pulled out on runway surface at 11. 10 PM,” a Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson said earlier today.
The Runway End Surface Area (RESA) is an extended area at the end of the runway to limit an aircraft in the event it overshoots.
The spokesperson, however, did confirm by when operations can resume from the main runway – which is still inoperational as of Friday noon.
A city-bound SpiceJet flight from Jaipur carrying 167 passengers and crew overshot the runway at Mumbai airport Monday night after landing amid heavy rains, forcing authorities to close the runway.
Since then, the airport has been carrying out flight operations from the secondary runway, which has a capacity to handle only up to 35 aircraft movement per hour as against up to 48 of the main runway.
The restricted capacity resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations and diversions, in addition to delays.
The average delay, which stood at 20-25 minutes for both arrivals and departures as of yesterday morning, has now come down to around 5 minutes for arrivals and 20 minutes for departures, according to airline tracker Flightradar24.
