Airlines to cancel 114 daily flights for 3 months due to Delhi airport runway upgradation work

New Delhi: Delhi airport operator DIAL on Friday said 114 flights, accounting for 7.5 per cent of the total daily flights, will be cancelled for three months starting from June 15 due to the closure of a runway for upgradation works.

The upgradation works of the runway RW 10/28, that was postponed in May after congestion issues, will now be carried out from June 15 to September 15.

The Instrument Landing System (ILS) will be upgraded to make the runway CAT III compliant, which will allow flight operations at low visibility conditions during the fog season.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the country's largest and busiest airport, handles around 1,450 flight movements daily. It has four runways -- RW 09/27, RW 11R/29L, RW 11L/29R and RW 10/28 -- and two operational terminals -- T1 and T3. T2 is currently closed for maintenance works.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar on Friday said RW 10/28 is not going to be operational, effective June 15, for three months.

"...we want to upgrade that runway to mitigate any issues or problems that we were facing, especially during the fog season. So for RW 10/28, there are two upgrades that we are going to do," he said at a press conference here.

According to him, the average reduction in daily flights during the three-month period will be around 7.5 per cent, and passengers are being informed about the changes well in advance.

"So, the (number of) flights which are going to be cancelled are about 114. If you look at it from the right perspective, we have got 1,450 operations (flight movements) in a day. Out of that, about 114 operations (flight movements) are going to be impacted, which is 7.5 per cent," he said.

As per DIAL, a total of 200 flights will be impacted -- 114 will be cancelled and the remaining 86 will be rescheduled from the peak to non-peak hours -- during the June 15-September 15 period.

While the runway will resume operations from September 15, the completion of the ILS upgrade will be done by November 27, just before the start of the fog season, Jaipuriar said.

DIAL CEO emphasised that rescheduling and cancellation of flights are not going to have a major impact, especially since passengers are being informed in advance.

Efforts have been made to ensure a balanced approach to maintain operational stability and minimise disruptions during the closure of RW 28/10, he added.

Against the backdrop of certain earlier instances of airlines and the airport operator having differences amid congestion woes, DIAL on Friday stressed that the slot adjustment process was carried out through close coordination among all the stakeholders.

Representatives of various airlines were also present at the press conference.

Earlier, the RW 10/28 upgradation was planned in April-May this year, and was closed for ILS upgradation on April 8. However, the closure of the runway, easterly winds and congestion impacted flight operations.

In view of the same, the civil aviation ministry directed resumption of operations from RW 10/28 and postponement of runway works from June 15 to September 15. The revised upgradation schedule was also agreed to by the airlines, DIAL said.

DIAL is majority owned by GMR Airports.