Heavy rains, low visibility hit Mumbai airport operations, 50 flights cancelled

Mumbai: Flight services at the Mumbai airport were severely impacted on Monday with runway operations shut for over an hour and 50 flights cancelled due to low visibility after heavy rains in the city, sources said.

Of the 50 cancelled flights (both arrivals and departures), 42 services were of the no-frills IndiGo and six of Air India, they said.

"Fifty flights have been cancelled till 11 am on Monday at the Mumbai airport due to low visibility and heavy rains. Of these, IndiGo had to cancel 42 flights, including 20 departing ones, while six flights of Air India including three arrivals were cancelled," a source said.

The government-owned Alliance Air also had to cancel two (one departure and one arrival) of its flights on Monday, the source said.

Earlier sources said that runway operations at the airport had to be suspended from 2.22 am to 3.40 am, leading to diversion of some 27 flights to nearby airports.

Flights were diverted to cities such as Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore, among others, they said.

In the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Monday, the island city recorded an average 115.63 mm rainfall, while the eastern and western parts of Mumbai received 168.68 mm and 165.93 mm rain, respectively, an official said.

In eastern Mumbai, Govandi recorded the highest 315.6 mm rainfall, followed by 314.5 mm at Powai, while in western parts, Malpa Dongri in Andheri received the highest 292.2 mm rainfall followed by 278.2 mm at Chakala.

In the island city, Pratiksha Nagar got 220.2 mm rainfall, followed by 185.8 mm in Sewri Koliwada, the official said.