BENGALURU: The incessant rain in Mumbai and the runway incident involving a Spicejet flight at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Tuesday have played havoc with flight schedules. In all, 12 flights were diverted to Bengaluru while a few were cancelled. Rains have resulted in cancellation of one pair of trains between Gadag and Mumbai.
International flights landing at Mumbai have been badly impacted and they have been diverted to Kempe Gowda International Airport. According to a source, Qatar Airways B773, Lufthansa B747, Jazeera Airways A320, Air India AI787 were among flights diverted to Bengaluru.
Of the two runways in Mumbai, only the smaller runway is operational. “Whatever flights we could operate from there, we managed, and diverted the rest. The bigger runway where the SpiceJet incident occurred is still shut,” an Air India spokesperson said.
Airport operator Bengaluru International Airport Limited, in a statement said, “Owing to adverse weather conditions at Mumbai airport, 12 flights were diverted to the Kempegowda International Airport on Tuesday morning. The unscheduled arrivals did not impact operations at KIA. Scheduled departures to Mumbai experienced minor delays with no disruption for arriving flights. As the weather in Mumbai improved, flights were cleared for take-off.”
An official of Indigo Airlines said none of their flights were diverted to Bengaluru. “We usually do not divert our Mumbai flights to Bengaluru as our nearest destination is Hyderabad. On Monday night, we diverted one flight leaving Bengaluru for Mumbai (6E 849) to Hyderabad.
Vistara cancelled two flights running to and from Bengaluru to KIA — the Mumbai-Bengaluru (UK 851) and the Bengaluru-Mumbai (UK 852). These were among five of its domestic flights cancelled on Tuesday. “All impacted customers will be given a full refund,” the airline said in a statement.
Diversions to continue, says AI spokesperson
The Air India spokesperson said that all its flights were diverted to either New Delhi or Bengaluru. “The diversion of flights will continue till 12 noon on Wednesday as the NOTAM (no permission to arrive or land) has been extended,” he said.