Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (SR)

Mumbai, Jul 3: Rain created havoc in the city on Tuesday and connectivity to the city was severely hampered with more than 203 flights cancelled and delay on arrival and departure of another 350-odd flights.

To make things worse the main runway of the Mumbai airport is likely to remain closed for flight operations till Thursday as it will take more time to remove the Spice Jet plane that was stuck partially on the runway on Monday night, according to officials. A team of engineers and technicians from Air India has started work to remove the stuck plane with the Disabled Aircraft Recovery Kit (DARK).

An airport official said, "A total of 203 flights were cancelled at the Mumbai airport due to inclement weather and non-availability of the main runway for operations." Mumbai airport authorities had earlier in the day said 52 flights were cancelled and another 55 diverted to the nearby airports till 10 am Tuesday due to 'inclement weather' and partial closure of operations.

As per a report in TOI, Air India spokesperson said, "A 150-metre long ramp is being prepared to enable push the aircraft out of the grassy area. Air India's disable aircraft removal kit has been mobilised."

Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said the aircraft is likely to be removed by Thursday and then the runway will be fully operational. "Currently, secondary runway is in use. Our team is trying their best to bring the main runway back into operation and this may take up to 48 hours," MIAL said in a tweet. Mumbai airport has two runways and the second one can handle only up to 35 aircraft movements per hour while the main runway can handle 48 plane movements every hour. Mumbai airport is the second busiest in the country, handling around 1,000 arrivals and departures per day. The airport in Delhi is the busiest as it handles around 1,300 movements per day.