Sought entire runway,airport didn’t respond,allege airlines

Airline officials told Newsline that at a runway-safety meeting called by Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) last Friday to discuss future runway closures,officials from major carriers had raised their issues. A spokesperson for MIAL,however,denied that any meeting was held with airline officials that day to discuss future operations.

On Monday,after rain had been forecast for the following day,airline officials say they made calls till 11.30 pm asking MIAL officials to make the entire runway available,and took up the matter again on Tuesday morning. They got no response,they alleged. An MIAL official said the airlines are trying to save face.

At 6.40 pm on Monday,the DGCA issued a circular,G0128,but made no mention of operations on the shortened runway in wet conditions. A ‘G’ category NOTAM essentially contains information that affects an aircraft’s operations in general. NOTAM G0128 was revised the next day as NOTAM G0129; the only change add smaller aircraft under its purview.

On Tuesday evening,after a Kingfisher ATR aircraft skidded off the runway,the flight operation departments of Air India,Kingfisher and others received a DGCA circular with preconditions for operations on the secondary runway,with a note that all scheduled operators had already been informed the previous day.

The DGCA said airlines had been informed beforehand. Director general Dr Naseem Zaidi said,“Verbal calls were made on November 9 by our operations office followed by our circular where we mentioned against operating on wet runway conditions on the shortened runway. If airlines have to say anything they can write to the DGCA.”