Operations at Mumbai airport hit by heavy rains; passengers tweet for help

Operations hit due to heavy rain, fluctuating visibility levels

Operations at the Mumbai airport were hit on Wednesday as heavy rainfall and fluctuating visibility caused delays.

Flights of IndiGo, the largest domestic airline, were impacted the most as waterlogging in various parts of the city and suspension of suburban rail network resulted in pilots, crew and ground staff not reporting to work on time.

Passengers took to social media after they were made to wait inside arriving aircraft for up to two hours as there were no ground personnel to handle the plane.

Mahindra & Mahindra Managing Director Pawan Goenka too was among the passengers impacted by delays as his Air India flight was late.

“Flight to Delhi from Mumbai delayed by 2 hours as the crew could not reach the airport in time due to rain,” Goenka said in a tweet.

In a statement, IndiGo said, “Due to the unprecedented non-stop rains in Mumbai, there are close to 30 flights on ground. As a result of flooding and water logging on roads and the subsequent traffic jams, many of our ground support staff, crew and captains have not been able to reach the airport on time.”

“As a result, the departure flights have also been held up. We are doing everything possible to restore normalcy.”