Fresh carpeting of the cross-runways being carried out every Tuesday at Mumbai airport, passed off without any major hindrances this week. “The short runway was handed over to ATC five minutes before the scheduled time of 12:55 pm,” said a spokesperson from MIAL.

A total of 82 movements were handled between 1 and 5 pm when the shortened runway was in operation. It had been earlier reported by Newsline that handing over the runway to the ATC on time was the primary concern for MIAL officials. Last Tuesday due to delay in handing over the runway flight operations were affected.

“The first arrival and departure on the shortened runway was at 12:58 and 12:59 pm respectively. In the evening the short runway was closed at 17:05 hrs and the full runway was operational by 18:04 hrs,” said the spokesperson.

“There were no diversions or cancellations this afternoon,” he added. “Things went on as planned and smoothly,” said an airport official.