80 flights hit, runway shut thrice; ATC debuts low visibility take-off protocol
Mumbai: Roughly 80 flight arrivals and departures were likely affected by heavy rain at the city airport during morning peak hours on Monday. Visibility dropped below the minimum threshold during the period, forcing the runway to be shut for landings thrice for short durations.
Sources said that there was no rain-related cancellation, and that two Air India flights to Mumbai were diverted—one from Ahmedabad was sent back and the other, from Goa, was sent to Indore. The morning disruption had a cascading effect on flight schedules and delays continued through the day. According to Flightradar24, arrivals and departures were delayed by an average of 45 minutes in the evening.
To reduce such delays in departures during heavy rain, the city airport's air traffic control on Monday morning debuted a new procedure under which it permits take-off in low visibility conditions.
The procedure was tested between 7.30am and 10.30am when dense cloud cover and rainfall led to low visibility. Despite the inclement weather, Mumbai airport handled 50 departures. However, since landings continue to follow the standard visibility norms, only 28 flights could land during those three hours of morning peak hour traffic.
Called 'low visibility take off' (LVTO), the procedure reduces the minimum runway visibility required to take off from Mumbai airport from the standard 550m to 400m.
This means departures can continue till visibility drops below 400m. The minimum visibility for landings at Mumbai continues to be 550m.
"Early this year, the Mumbai air traffic control, along with the airport operator, formulated the procedures for LVTO, and Directorate General of Civil Aviation granted clearance. On Monday morning, we got an opportunity to implement it. Visibility fell below 550m thrice for 5-10 minutes each during the morning peak hours," said an aviation source. "Typically, flights coming in to land are given priority over flights waiting to take off.
On rainy days, then, departure flights end up with longer delays than arrivals. With the implementation of LVTO, the duration of delays in departures can be cut down when visibility falls below 550m," the source said.
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