Rainy Monday brought along severe disruptions to air travel at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) as at least six flights had to execute turn-arounds while one had to be diverted to other airports due to poor visibility. The average delay in departures from the airport also went up to as high as 56 minutes.
One Flight Diverted, Six Turn-Arounds
Flight schedule at CSMIA was disrupted from early morning on Monday due to consistent heavy downpour. Sources from Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) told The Free Press Journal that over six flights had to execute turn-arounds, abort the landing process and reattempt to land safely. In the morning, an aircraft had to be diverted from Mumbai to Surat, while one aircraft was diverted from Pune to Hyderabad due to unfavourable weather conditions.
Delays Stretch Beyond Hours
According to Flightradar24, a real-time flight tracker, the airport disruption index was reported as high as 4.6, signifying major problems with long delays and several cancelled flights. The average landing delay went up to as high as 56 minutes and take-off was delayed by an average of 32 minutes.
Passengers Stranded for Hours
Air India’s flight no. AI129 for London, was scheduled to depart from CSMIA at 5.05am but was delayed by more than 10 hours to finally depart at 3.15pm. IndiGo’s flight no. 6E-1601 to Jakarta was scheduled to depart at 6.35am but departed after a delay of more than eight hours at 2.50pm. Similarly, Air India’s flight AI-2354 to Bangkok, British Airways’ BA134 to London Heathrow and Akasa Air’s QP-1543 to Bengaluru, were delayed by six hours, five hours and two hours respectively.
Weather, Crew Limitations Add to Chaos
The incoming flights at CSMIA were also hit due to bad weather. IndiGo’s 6E-627 was scheduled to depart from Thiruvananthapuram at 1.25pm. Passengers told The Free Press Journal that the airline delayed the flight multiple times and finally scheduled it for 6.35pm while also keeping them unaware about the reasons. Sources from IndiGo said that the flight was initially delayed due to adverse weather conditions but was later delayed further due to the crew exceeding flight duty time limitations.
