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MUMBAI | MONDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2019 1

Modi loses 100,000, Rahul 9K Mumbai, Bengaluru

runway closures see
followers in Nov Twitter drive fares rise up to 200%
ARINDAM MAJUMDER
& ANEESH PHADNIS
New Delhi/Mumbai, 10 February

Last-minute airfares have

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almost doubled on Mumbai
and Bengaluru routes due to
simultaneous runway closure
at two of India’s busiest airports.
Airlines have been forced to
cancel and reschedule flights
leading to the surge in airfares.
Mumbai airport
announced a runway closure
from February 7 to March 30
due to the recarpeting of the
intersection of two runways.
There are no flight move-
ments between 11 am to 5 pm
every Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday, at Mumbai airport.
Recarpeting of runway is
part of scheduled mainte-
nance process and Mumbai
airport had given advance
notice about the closure. As
part of the process, two layers
of asphalt will be laid on the
runways to strengthen the sur-
face. The work is being carried
out prior to monsoon to
ensure continuous availability.
Similarly, at Bengaluru
airport, over 100 flights will
be affected as the runway will
be closed from 1.30 pm to
4.30 pm, between February
14 and 17. The closure will be
due to the practice session of
the Indian Air Force for the
Aero India show.
According to a survey by
travel portal ixigo, economy air-
fares from Mumbai have shot
up by almost 25- 30 per cent till
the end of March.
“Ahmedabad-Mumbai has
seen a hike in airfares by over
IMF stands ready to support Pak: Lagarde 80 per cent as compared to last
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde week. Last-minute non-stop
said that the global lender stands ready to support and stop-over flights have been
Pakistan as she met the cash-strapped country's Prime impacted the most, recording a
Minister Imran Khan in Dubai on Sunday. Khan is price surge of over 200 per cent
paying a day-long trip to the UAE to take part in the 7th in some cases. Around 33 per
edition of the World Government Summit on the cent of all flights from
invitation of Vice President and Prime Minister of the Mumbai airport were delayed
PTI UAE Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. PTI today and we expect a further
IndiGo flights hit
due to diversions
Over 80 IndiGo flights were
cancelled over the weekend as
a consequential impact of
diversions and pilots shortage.
Thirty eight flights were
diverted, eleven of them of
IndiGo, as Delhi was hit by a
hailstorm on Thursday evening.
This had a cascading impact on
the airline's operations
resulting in flight delays and
cancellations over the next
three days. Flight diversion
results in duty time extension
for pilots and while the civil
aviation regulator does allow a
dispensation in work hours,
this puts a strain on airline's
operations. Pilots shortage also
aggravated the situation as
the airline has just enough
number of pilots to maintain
its daily operations.
ANEESH PHADNIS
increase in cancellations and
delays over the next few
days,” said Aloke Bajpai, CEO
and co-founder of ixigo.
According to officials at
Mumbai airport, almost 276
flights are likely to be cancelled
daily till the runways are
reopened. “Fares have started
to rise. Both close-in and
advance fares are marginally
up. But close-in fares are higher
due to disruptions in Mumbai
and Bengaluru airports. Close-
in fares for Mumbai are 70-100
per cent higher,” said Balu
Ramachandran, head of air and
distribution, Cleartrip.
Senior airline executives
also said that there is scarcity
of tickets as people are can-
celling leisure travels during
the closure period and re-plan-
ning them. “We are seeing a
trend in Mumbai where peo-
ple are cancelling travels on
Tuesday, Thursday and
Saturday. Our priority is to find
alternate arrangements for
existing customers rather than
take new bookings. The
demand-supply situation has
reached an
inflection point,” explained an
executive of a private airline.
Airline executives also
pointed out that such a sce-
nario rakes up the aviation
infrastructure problem that the
country is facing. “ It’s for years
now that Mumbai needs a sec-
ond airport. For an airport run-
ning at 100 per cent capacity
and surviving on one-runway
operation; such situations are
bound to emerge,” he said.
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