The Delhi airport will start upgrade work on one of its four runways Sunday and it will lead to cancellations and rescheduling of around 200 flights arriving and departing from India’s busiest airport. The runway will remain closed for three months, from June 15 to September 15.
The upgrade work on Runway 10/28 is expected to cause minimal disruption, according to airport operator GMR Group-led Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), as it has worked closely over the past few weeks with aviation authorities and airlines on slot adjustments. This was done to avoid a repeat of the events in April, when unexpected weather events, due to sudden changes in wind patterns, coupled with the runway closure, led to massive disruptions in flight operations and public criticism.
Airlines will cumulatively cut 114 flights a day—arrivals and departures—to and from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Aiport during this period, DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar earlier told the media. This corresponds to a cancellation rate of around 8 per cent, as the total number of daily flights to and from the airport is approximately 1,450. Jaipuriar added that, on average, the flight cancellation rate on regular days is in the range of 3-3.5 per cent, and therefore, an 8 per cent cancellation rate is not too high. Additionally, 86 flights will be rescheduled.
Runway 10/28, one of the four runways at the Delhi airport, is to be upgraded to CAT 3B-compliant status (CAT 3B is the category within the Instrument Landing System (ILS) used by airports allowing landings in very low visibility conditions), along with the upgrade of its instrument landing system (ILS). After the upgrade works, the runway will be fully equipped to handle low-visibility operations from both ends instead of just one end at present.
The airport will have three runways capable of low-visibility operations, equipping it to better manage operations during winter fog spells. Being in North India, the Delhi airport is prone to dense fog during winter, which can lead to major disruptions.
