Mumbai, January 7: Passengers travelling to and from Mumbai are likely to face a harrowing time in the next two months as the Mumbai airport will partially remain shut for six hours for 22 days. According to reports, flight operations at Mumbai airport will be hit during February and March 2019 as re-carpet the intersection of the runways will take place during the two months. Meanwhile, airfares are likely to see a spike by 80 per cent on selected routes including Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The last recarpeting was done in 2010.

A spokesperson of Mumbai International Airport was quoted in a report by Moneycontrol saying that there will be no flight movements at Mumbai Airport between 11 am and 5 pm every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from February 07 to March 30, 2019. “The airport will operate the whole day on Thursday, March 21," the spokesperson added. Mumbai International Airport to Witness Major Runway Repair Work in 2019, Flight Services to Be Disrupted From Feb to April.

The closure has already led to significant reschedule and cancellation of flights. Several international flights have also been rescheduled in wake of the closure. The Mumbai airport is the second busiest in India and has two crossing runways -- 09/27 (the main) and 14/32 (the secondary runway). The airport handles 970 flight arrivals and departures each day. Mumbai Airport Extends Check-in Facility to Six Hotels.

The Mumbai airport had earlier shut in October 2018 for a day. Reports inform that the move had impacted about 300 flights. The two runways at the Mumbai airport handle about 85 flights an hour. While the primary runway handles about 48 flights an hour, the second sees 35 flights take off in an hour.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 07, 2019 04:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).