Two flights were diverted and seven aborted landing at Mumbai airport on Wednesday evening as heavy rains lashed the city. The disruptions occurred following a red alert issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Mumbai and surrounding districts.
Flight services were impacted as rain had been falling across many parts of the city since the afternoon. According to reports, Air India flight AI-656, which departed Rajkot at 6:15 PM and was scheduled to land in Mumbai an hour later, was diverted to Ahmedabad due to the downpour. Similarly, IndiGo flight 6E1052 from Bangkok to Mumbai was diverted to Ahmedabad at 8:04 PM because of wind shear, a sudden change in wind speed and direction.
Vistara flight UK941 from Delhi to Mumbai was also redirected to Hyderabad due to the adverse weather, with an expected arrival time of 9:10 PM. By 8:15 PM, seven flights that had approached for landing executed go-arounds due to the conditions. Flight operations experienced delays averaging 30 minutes.
IMD had upgraded its orange alert for Mumbai to a red alert, valid until 8:30 AM on Thursday. The weather office also predicted extremely heavy rainfall and thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, and Ratnagiri districts. An orange alert was issued for the coastal districts of Palghar and Sindhudurg, indicating heavy to very heavy rainfall and thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places very likely.
(With inputs from agencies)