Flight operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) remained disrupted for the second day with cancellation of 30 flights and another 118 getting delayed due heavy rainfall on Thursday.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Mumbai issued a red alert as heavy rains continue to lash the city since Tuesday night. Out of the 150 weather stations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), around 100 recorded over 200 mm rainfall in last 24 hours, the weather department said. Deputy Director-General of Meteorology, IMD Mumbai, KS Hosalikar said that more than 100 mm rainfall in three hours is extremely heavy rainfall.
As per a live flight-tracking website, 14 incoming and 16 outbound flights were cancelled on Thursday. In addition, 118 flights were delayed, including 86 departure. In a brief statement, Mumbai International Airport Airport Ltd (MIAL) said that “operations are normal”.
“IndiGo has reported cancellations. Please contact the airlines for further information,” it added. IndiGo suspended operations due to paucity of manpower on Wednesday night, a source said. The airline said in a statement Thursday morning that operations had resumed as per the schedule.
“There are few cancellations to stabilize the operations. Therefore, we request the passengers to check the status of their flight before proceeding for the airport…All affected passengers are being accommodated on alternate flights,” it said.
The operations at the country’s second busiest airport had witnessed heavy disruptions on Wednesday as rains crippled the city. Around 20 flights, most of them of IndiGo, were cancelled on Wednesday and 455 flights were delayed due to the incessant rain.
With local train services slowing down or coming to a standstill and traffic snarls on major roads, airline and airport staff were unable to reach the workplace, resulting in delays and cancellations on Wednesday and its spill-over effect continued on Thursday as well, sources said.
“My IndiGo flight was scheduled to take off for Jaipur at 7.55 pm Wednesday night. It took off at 6 am today and landed in Jaipur at 8 am. I boarded the flight around midnight but all passengers remained seated in the aircraft till departure this morning,” a passenger told PTI. “There was no dinner. Passengers came onto the tarmac and created a ruckus. Someone even called CISF (Central Industrial Security Force),” he added. The Mumbai airport handles around 1,000 flight arrivals and departures per day.
Earlier in July, torrential rains had left at least 40 dead in Maharashtra with over 28 deaths being reported from Mumbai alone. The city had recorded the highest July rainfall in 10 years and the second-highest in 44 years.