Trouble for flyers as IGI runway to be shut for 2 weeks

About 100 flights are expected to be affected every day at the Delhi International Airport for 13 days beginning November 15 as one of the three runways would be closed for maintenance and repair.

Delhi airport officials said that runway 27/09 — one of the oldest runways of the airport — will be closed for repairs between November 15 and November 27, which may affect flight schedules.

“Runway maintenance is a safety issue. It has to be done. About 100 flights may be re-scheduled,” Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey told reporters here on Thursday.

A Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) spokesperson said runway 27/09 will be closed for “preventive repairs”.

“The works are scheduled to be undertaken for 13-day duration starting from November 15, 2018. This will lower the capacity of Indira Gandhi International Airport by 50 arrivals and 50 departures per day in this duration,” he said.

IGIA is India's busiest airports with 1300 flight movements every day. The airport handled 63.5 million passengers in 2017-18.

The three runways of Delhi airport together can handle 75 aircraft per hour. With the closure of one runway, the capacity is expected to dip to 60.

The spokesperson also said these works are essential for safe aircraft operations and to avoid sudden disruptions that cause greater impact due to the time required for planning the logistics.

DIAL is a consortium led by the GMR group with government-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Germany’s Fraport being the other stakeholders.