Smog cover shuts down Mumbai airport for 45 minutes

Mumbai: A thick smog cover diminished runway visibility to less than 500m at Mumbai airport on Sunday morning, forcing authorities to suspend operations for 45 minutes. “Operations were suspended from 8:30am to 9:15am,” a spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Limited said.
There were no takeoffs or landings during this time and flights were diverted. It is unusual for such a phenomenon to occur in Mumbai during this time, though visibility does drop during heavy rains.
Five domestic flights were diverted to Ahmedabad: two each of Air Deccan and Jet Airways, and one of Indian. A GoAir flight from Chennai was diverted to Pune. But, according to unconfirmed reports, Pune airport was also shut for a while.
Mumbai has the CAT-II instrumentation system, but it works only when runway visibility is about 550 metres.
15/01/07 Manisha Singhal/Daily News & Analysis

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline