Mumbai Airport Runway Operations Hit Due to Heavy Rains, 51 Flights Cancelled, 27 Diverted

Heavy rains in Mumbai have led to disruptions in not just road and rail traffic, but air traffic as well. The operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport were disrupted amid heavy rains, leading to several flights being diverted and over 50 getting cancelled.

As per the latest update from the Mumbai airport authorities, heavy rains and low visibility led to the suspension of runway operations from 2:22 am to 3:40 am on Monday. At least 27 flights were diverted due to this suspension.

Meanwhile, 51 flights were cancelled to and from Mumbai till 11 am on Monday, the CSMIA told CNBC-TV18. A total of 42 IndiGo flights were cancelled, which included 22 arrivals and 20 departures, 6 Air India flights (3 arrivals and 3 departures) were cancelled, 2 Air India Express flights were cancelled and 1 Qatar Airways departure was cancelled on Sunday night due to an FDTL issue.

Flights that were scheduled to land in Mumbai were diverted to other places like Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Indore. The airport authorities said that priority was being given to arrivals, and consequential changes that were made to accommodate diverted flights, delaying departures.

Travel Advisory For Passengers

The CSMIA also asked passengers to check their flight status in advance. “In light of the inclement weather and forecast of heavy to very heavy rains, Mumbai Airport advises all the passengers to check their flight status with their respective airlines and leave for the airport a little earlier,” CSMIA posted on X (previously Twitter).

Travel advisories were also issued by airlines including IndiGo and SpiceJet as flights scheduled to land in Mumbai were diverted.

Passengers’ Woes

Passengers took to social media to post about issues being faced by them due to operations getting hampered at Mumbai airport.

“Chose a great night to take a 11:30 pm flight from Bangalore to Mumbai. In crazy thunderstorms pilot couldn’t land in Mumbai terminal, so took us to Ahmedabad. Reaching there found that Ahmedabad airport is max’d out so took us to Indore, where we finally landed. I thought chalo god wanted me to have poha for breakfast. But no such luck, we stayed inside, as re-fueling happened and waited for Mumbai weather to get better. Took off at 5 and finally landed in Mumbai at 6 and got out of plane at 7. Felt like a Shawshank Redemption moment tbh (sic),” standup comedian Abhijit Ganguly posted on X.

An X user asked people to leave for airport early due to waterlogging at powai L&T junction.

Mumbai has been witnessing heavy rains since Sunday. All schools and colleges were shut as waterlogging was reported from several areas. The movement of local trains was also disrupted due to waterlogging on railway tracks.