Mumbai International Airport's Main Runway to Be Closed For Four Months

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:04:28 +0530

Owing to the construction of the RET at MIAL, flyers at Mumbai airport may have to face delays for the next 4 months. Although inconvenience is expected to be caused due to the closure of the main runway, many positive changes can be seen in matters of flight operations in the future. A MIAL spokesperson said that the RET work will be over by June 1. During this mentioned time period, flights will be operated on the secondary runway (14-32), but the airport officials also mentioned that people should be prepared to face delays of 30-40 as the secondary runway cannot fit as many flights as the main runway. During peak departure hours in the morning and peak arrival hours at night, the runway will be open for operations, and movement of flights during the day will be carried on the secondary runway.

The need for more RETs was felt so that more flights can be accommodated by reducing the aircraft runway occupancy time. As of now, the airport has four RETs and five parallel exit taxiways. As stated by a senior airport official, “RET will help the ATC manage more number of flights per hour and the construction is part of MIAL’s plan to create a network of parallel taxiways and RETs along the two runways. The construction of the entire network will take place in several phases,’’ he added. Although the secondary runway will compensate till the time the main runway is shut, unfortunately, it is not well equipped to manage the same number of flights as the main runway. Worse could be expected if the visibility level drops due to smog. In this case, the main runway will have to be made available for flight operations.

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Mumbai International Airport's Main Runway to Be Closed For Four Months