Waterlogging, poor visibility hold up several flights

Mumbai: Over 45 cancellations. More than a dozen diversions. Close to 15 flights being clubbed. Upto five hour delays. And not to forget an hour-long airfield shutdown. As the watermark rose outside, so did the chaos inside Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport—the country’s busiest.
Until mid-afternoon, airlines reported upto 45 minute delays. But by 12.30 pm, things came to a grinding halt for over an hour due to waterlogging on primary runway 09-27.
‘‘The weather at Mumbai deteriorated from approximately 9 am with strong wind shear on the approach. Heavy rains reduced visibility and runway 09 was waterlogged, also taxiway D, taxiway E were waterlogged weren’t usable, leading to uncertainty on the availability of the airfield,’’ a Jet Airways official statement said.
While all airlines confirmed that operations had to be suspended because of waterlogging, Airport Director R J Treasuryvala denied it.
04/07/06 Lekha Agarwal/Mumbai Newsline

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