Mumbai: Chinks in Mumbai airport infrastructure
were exposed today when disruption in power supply and
water logging at the newly-constructed terminal IC severely
affected flight operations.
The airport building was shut for about five hours and
several flights were delayed by up to 90 minutes.
Compounding the problem, the main runway remained out of
bound for flights for over one hour after an aircraft broke a
runway light while taking off, an airport source said.
Flights across airlines were delayed by one to
one-and-a-half-hours, the source said.
A Mumbai International Airport Limited (MAIL) spokesperson,
however, said the runway was closed for 50 minutes to clear
glass pieces from the tarmac.
"The main runway 09x27 was closed for 50 minutes (8.10 am
to 9 am) to clear glass pieces after the runway edge light was
broken by a departing aircraft of Blue Dart Express this
morning," the spokesperson said.
A moderate rainfall yesterday night resulted in water
logging in Terminal IC, built at a cost of Rs 300 crore, and
as a result the building remained shut for around five hours,
the source said.
"Due to flooding of the area, there was only one aerobridge
available for passengers to check-in and this had a
cascading effect on flights operations," the source said.
The new domestic passenger terminal 1C caters to domestic
traffic of national air-carrier, Air India and private
airlines, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, through its six
aerobridges.
For the second day running, the airport witnessed power cut
for over 45 minutes which hampered operations, the source
said.
"This was the second time in as many days when there was a
power cut at the airport. Yesterday too, there was no power at
the airport for almost two hours, affecting around 45 flights
of Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines," the source
added.
PTI
