NEW DELHI: Ending a long stretch of flight delays and diversions that had been troubling travellers for weeks, the Delhi Airport reopened its runway 28/10 on Tuesday for operations, which was shut down last month for maintenance and upgradation works.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) cleared the runway for operations on Monday after a thorough inspection, according to officials.
However, the runway will be closed again from mid-June to mid-September following the peak tourist season, when wind direction is also expected to shift.
“As per the approved plan with all stakeholders, Delhi airport handed over RW 28/10 to ATC at 8:01 am today for operation till mid June. This addition will further aid in streamlining operations and smoother arrivals and departures for passengers in the unseasonal varying wind conditions that are continuing,” Delhi airport said in a post on X.
The move came after regular flight delays and diversions as the airport operated on lesser capacity which was further enhanced due to easterly winds.
The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL)-operated airport was shut down on April 8 for technical upgrades. The work included upgrading the CAT IIIB Instrument Landing System (ILS) on the 28 end of the runway (towards Vasant Vihar) and, for the first time, installing CAT IIIB capability on the 10 end (towards Dwarka).
The original plan was to reopen it in July after it had been made capable of handling low-visibility operations from both ends. However, unexpected changes in wind direction in recent weeks made things worse. Unseasonal easterly winds meant that flights had to land from the Dwarka side, where the upgraded system wasn’t ready.
Following a meeting held on April 21 by the Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu to “address operational challenges arising from ongoing upgradation work”, it was decided to reopen the runway earlier than scheduled and postpone the upgradation work to June.
With one runway out of four being shut, flight operations were significantly impacted for over a month especially during the busy summer travel period. Passengers flooded social media with complaints and some prominent figures like Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Congress MP Shahi Tharoor, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora also raised the matter on X.