MUMBAI: On Monday, heavy rainfall in Mumbai severely disrupted flight services at the city’s airport, resulting in the cancellation of 50 flights and the suspension of runway operations for over an hour due to low visibility, according to sources. IndiGo, a no-frills airline, had to cancel 42 flights, including 20 departures, while Air India cancelled six flights, including three arrivals.
“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.
Additionally, Alliance Air, a government-owned airline, had to cancel two of its flights (one departure and one arrival) on Monday, the source added.
Sources earlier reported that runway operations at the airport were suspended from 2.22 am to 3.40 am, causing the diversion of approximately 27 flights to nearby airports such as Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Indore.
According to an official, in the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Monday, the island city of Mumbai recorded an average rainfall of 115.63 mm, while the eastern and western parts of the city received 168.68 mm and 165.93 mm of rain, respectively.
Govandi in eastern Mumbai recorded the highest rainfall at 315.6 mm, followed by Powai at 314.5 mm. In the western parts of the city, Malpa Dongri in Andheri received the highest rainfall at 292.2 mm, followed by Chakala at 278.2 mm. In the island city, Pratiksha Nagar received 220.2 mm of rainfall, followed by Sewri Koliwada at 185.8 mm, the official added.