Big alert! Avoid flying to or from Mumbai till March; Over 5,000 flights cancelled; fares shoot up

The airport’s main and secondary runways are being closed due to repair work.

Flying to and from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport to get difficult! If you are planning to fly anytime soon to or from the Mumbai Airport, it is advisable to check with the airport authorities first as the airport’s main and secondary runways are likely to remain closed on select days over the next few weeks. Starting from February 7, 2019, to March 30, 2019, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) will close its main and secondary runways for three days a week between 11 AM to 5 PM, according to a CSIA spokesperson who was quoted in an IE report. The airport’s main and secondary runways are being closed due to repair work, the CSIA spokesperson informed.

During that period, except March 21, 2019, the recarpeting work will be carried out at the intersection of both, main and secondary runways every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. According to the CSIA spokesperson, during the period, passengers will face difficulties because of cancellation and rescheduling of flights. However, he added that the Mumbai Airport will operate the whole day on March 21, 2019.

Meanwhile, various reports suggest that around 5,000 flights are likely to be cancelled till the end of March, due to repair work on the runways. It is being said that around 240 flights are likely to be cancelled daily and several international flights are likely to be rescheduled from the period between 7, 2019 to March 30, 2019. With several flights being cancelled, airfares are also going up and several travel portals are advising people to book flights in advance.

The CSIA Airport in Mumbai, one of the busiest in the world, handles around 950 incoming flights every day with around 36 flights every hour. The main runway of the CSIA Airport has the capacity to take up to nearly 50 flights per hour. However, as both the airport runways criss-cross each other, only one is used at a time. Interestingly, last year in the month of December, it was reported that Mumbai’s CSIA Airport created a record by handling as many as 1,007 aircraft movements in a single day.