Indian aviation regulator DGCA, on Tuesday, 2 July, issued safety directions to airlines in the wake of multiple incidents of planes overshooting runways while operating amid bad weather conditions.
In the circular, the DGCA said, "Aircraft operations during monsoon season poses challenges, which of late have resulted in a number of occurrences."
Issuing various directions to the airlines, the circular stated, "Crew should be well aware of the aircraft limitations and of take-off/landing performance calculations during the adverse weather operations."
It added that while adhering to the minimum cockpit experience, which has already been laid down by the DGCA, the airlines should carry out their own "risk assessment" before conducting operations during adverse weather conditions.
The regulator said that the airlines must "make available sufficiently experienced crew in the cockpit".
The DGCA circular also said that the crew rostering should factor in the "fatigue element associated with the operations during adverse weather conditions".
A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told news agency PTI that it is probing the incidents of planes overshooting runways.
52 Flights Cancelled, 54 Diverted As Mumbai Rains Hit Air Traffic
The last 48 hours saw rains lash Mumbai, bringing the mighty metropolis to a grinding halt. Rail and road services crippled due to rising water levels in the low lying areas of the city.
Apart from that, 54 flights were diverted and 52 cancelled at Mumbai’s Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSIA) due to inclement weather.
A SpiceJet flight from Jaipur skid and overshot the main runway while landing at the Mumbai airport amid heavy rains on Monday, 1 July, although none of the passengers were hurt in the incident, an airline spokesperson said. The incident occurred on Monday around 11.45 pm when the aircraft skidded and overshot the main runway, a source said.
“On 1 July, SpiceJet Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated flight SG 6237 from Jaipur to Mumbai. There was heavy rain in Mumbai and the aircraft, after landing, overshot the runway. Passengers were deplaned normally. There was no injury to either the passengers or the crew.”Spokesperson, SpiceJet
Many subsequent flights have been diverted to other airports such as Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, sources said.
"A Korean Air flight KE655 which was coming from Seoul to Mumbai has been diverted to Ahmedabad due to the incident and bad weather conditions," the sources said.
Similarly, a Lufthansa flight LH756 which was coming from Frankfurt, and an Air India flight AI331 which was coming from Bangkok had to be diverted to other airports, the sources said.
As per the CSIA website, 18 domestic arrivals and 12 domestic deparures were cancelled on 2 July.
Vistara Airways shared a detailed list of flights that have been diverted from Mumbai to other airports such as Ahmedabad and Hyderabad and cancelled around 10 flights on Tuesday.
GoAir cancelled around 12 flights on Tuesday, the details of which were tweeted by the airline’s official twitter handle.
Around 12 flights heading to and from Mumbai were diverted to Bangalore and six flights (arrivals and departures) were cancelled at Chennai airport. Apart from this, 13 flights were also diverted to the Hyderabad airport.
All airlines have taken to social media and are apprising stranded passengers of the latest flight details.
(With inputs from PTI)
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