NEW DELHI, Oct. 4, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – Two of India’s busiest airports —
the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in financial capital Mumbai and
the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi — will shut down their
runways for repair work, aviation sources said Thursday.
Mumbai airport has two operational runways and Delhi has three. The three
runways of Delhi airport can handle 75 aircraft an hour, the highest in the
country.
“While the Mumbai airport will carry out runway repair and maintenance work
in two phases between October and March next year, the airport in the Indian
capital will close its runways for repair work for 13 days from Nov. 15,” the
sources said.
As a result of closure of runways, thousands of flights will be hit at both
the airports, the sources said. “There will be partial disruptions, though
airport officials will try their best to ensure flight operations are not
hampered in a large scale,” they added.
As per the International Civil Aviation Organization guidelines, the life
of a runway is some 20 years, provided airport operators carry out repair
work once every five years.