Mumbai:
Authorities at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) say that the Turkish jet, stuck in mud, may be towed out later today and the main runway may become functional again.
The runway was shut down on Friday after a Turkish Airways plane skidded off the rapid exit taxiway after landing early in the morning and got stuck in some mud just a few feet away. A clearing operation has been on since Friday, around 200 workers and 34 engineers are engaged in the operation.
A temporary hard pavement has been created so that the aircraft, which is still stuck in mud, can be moved to the designated site. 100 truckloads of soil have been excavated around the plane to try and extricate it.
Operations were affected on Saturday due to steady rainfall. But with skies clearing since morning, the airport authorities are hopeful of clearing the runway.
The passengers are facing flight delays but there is no major chaos as it is a weekend. But if the authorities fail to clear the runway today, passengers will face major inconvenience from tomorrow onwards.
Since Friday, the airport has been using its secondary runway. The average delay on arrivals and departures is 45 and 55 minutes respectively. Six flights were also diverted on Saturday.
The CSIA authorities on Saturday had to suspend all operations on the secondary runway as well for a few minutes, four times during the day, on account of poor visibility.
The CSIA also grappled with an emergency landing of a Spicejet Bangalore-Mumbai flight with 137 passengers on board. There were no casualties in the incident.
Airport officials said that continuous downpour over Mumbai and surroundings further hampered the retrieval operations launched on Friday evening.
The Turkish Airlines aircraft, an Airbus 340, had 104 people on board including 11 crew members. No injuries were reported. The airline issued a statement that said its plane skidded off the runway after landing "as a result of excessive rainfall."
The flight from Istanbul to Mumbai landed at 4.13 am. The plane exited the runway onto the recently-refurbished taxiway N8 that leads towards the terminal. Suddenly, the plane skidded and its nose wheel and main landing gear hit the mud.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which supervises flight safety, has said this is a serious incident, and has begun a formal inquiry to determine what went wrong.
The runway was shut down on Friday after a Turkish Airways plane skidded off the rapid exit taxiway after landing early in the morning and got stuck in some mud just a few feet away. A clearing operation has been on since Friday, around 200 workers and 34 engineers are engaged in the operation.
A temporary hard pavement has been created so that the aircraft, which is still stuck in mud, can be moved to the designated site. 100 truckloads of soil have been excavated around the plane to try and extricate it.
Operations were affected on Saturday due to steady rainfall. But with skies clearing since morning, the airport authorities are hopeful of clearing the runway.
The passengers are facing flight delays but there is no major chaos as it is a weekend. But if the authorities fail to clear the runway today, passengers will face major inconvenience from tomorrow onwards.
Since Friday, the airport has been using its secondary runway. The average delay on arrivals and departures is 45 and 55 minutes respectively. Six flights were also diverted on Saturday.
The CSIA authorities on Saturday had to suspend all operations on the secondary runway as well for a few minutes, four times during the day, on account of poor visibility.
The CSIA also grappled with an emergency landing of a Spicejet Bangalore-Mumbai flight with 137 passengers on board. There were no casualties in the incident.
Airport officials said that continuous downpour over Mumbai and surroundings further hampered the retrieval operations launched on Friday evening.
The Turkish Airlines aircraft, an Airbus 340, had 104 people on board including 11 crew members. No injuries were reported. The airline issued a statement that said its plane skidded off the runway after landing "as a result of excessive rainfall."
The flight from Istanbul to Mumbai landed at 4.13 am. The plane exited the runway onto the recently-refurbished taxiway N8 that leads towards the terminal. Suddenly, the plane skidded and its nose wheel and main landing gear hit the mud.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which supervises flight safety, has said this is a serious incident, and has begun a formal inquiry to determine what went wrong.
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