Indian Air Force (IAF) An-32 overran runway 27 while taking off last night from Mumbai Airport. No injury or damage has been reported. The aircraft was taking off the Runway 27, which is the main take-off, landing runway of the Mumbai Airport.
Due to the incident, aircraft movement was diverted to the secondary runway, the official of the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said on Wednesday.
Airport authorities say, “We confirm, departing Air force Aircraft had runway excursion at 2339 hours at RWY 27 on Tuesday.” The AN-32 was departing for Yelahanka Air Force near Bengaluru, Karnataka.
A Defence spokesperson said the aircraft had abandoned take off in view of a technical issue and overshot the runway. The aircraft and crew are safe. A recovery team has arrived in Mumbai and the aircraft will be cleared shortly, the spokesperson added.
Runway 27 at Mumbai Airport which it overran isn’t available for operations causing a delay in many flights and the airport authorities are utilizing the second runway for regular commercial flights till the time AN-32 is taken off the main runway.
However, according to an airport official, the runway has opened and flight operations have been resumed.
Among the flights which were delayed by at least 30 minutes include AirAsia India I5 302 which was scheduled to depart at 8:05 am and left the aerodrome at 8:32 am. Air India AI 806 was also delayed by 29 minutes, GoAir G8 327 by 28 minutes and IndiGo 6E 6749 by 51 minutes respectively.
The city-based Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, the country’s second busiest airport after New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, has two crossing runways — 09×27 (the main runway) and 14×32 (the secondary runway) which together handle a little over 1,000 arrivals and departures per day.
A large part of the operations is carried out from the main runway.
