NEW DELHI: In a relief to flyers from massive delays and diversions, Delhi Airport’s main runway 10/28 will finally reopen on Tuesday. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gave its approval after inspecting the runway which is the backbone of India’s busiest airport that has four airstrips. “The runway will reopen on Tuesday morning,” confirmed two senior officials.
The runway was closed on April 8 to upgrade the existing CAT IIIB instrument landing system (ILS) on its 28 end (Vasant Vihar side) and also provide CAT IIIB for the first time on its 10 end (Dwarka side). However, unseasonal easterly winds — during which aircraft land from Dwarka side and take off towards Vasant Vihar — since early last month meant massive flight delays and diversions at Delhi. This led Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu to ask Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) to postpone the ILS work to after the peak summer travel season.
DIAL Monday said on X: “…upgrade work on runway 28/10 was carried out as per agreement with key stakeholders… As per approved plan, runway 28/10 will be closed again from mid-June to mid-September 2025, following the peak tourist season, when wind direction is also expected to shift (to westerly). We are working with airlines and all stakeholders to minimise any inconvenience.”
With three operational runways (minus 10/28) and unseasonal easterly winds, IGIA can handle a maximum of up to 32 arrivals in an hour. But the number of flights scheduled to fly in is way higher than this number, leading to endemic delays and diversions. Cumulatively 94 arrivals on a daily basis are in hours exceeding the upto 32 mark.
DIAL told airlines 75 of them can be shifted to night hours that have spare arrival capacity and the remaining 19 would need to be cancelled. Airlines cited Rs 1,000-crore loss if they did so in the peak travel season. So what was happening was a cycle of delays with more flights headed to Delhi than IGIA could handle leading to delays across the network.
The situation should hopefully improve now till mid June.
The runway was closed on April 8 to upgrade the existing CAT IIIB instrument landing system (ILS) on its 28 end (Vasant Vihar side) and also provide CAT IIIB for the first time on its 10 end (Dwarka side). However, unseasonal easterly winds — during which aircraft land from Dwarka side and take off towards Vasant Vihar — since early last month meant massive flight delays and diversions at Delhi. This led Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu to ask Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) to postpone the ILS work to after the peak summer travel season.
DIAL Monday said on X: “…upgrade work on runway 28/10 was carried out as per agreement with key stakeholders… As per approved plan, runway 28/10 will be closed again from mid-June to mid-September 2025, following the peak tourist season, when wind direction is also expected to shift (to westerly). We are working with airlines and all stakeholders to minimise any inconvenience.”
With three operational runways (minus 10/28) and unseasonal easterly winds, IGIA can handle a maximum of up to 32 arrivals in an hour. But the number of flights scheduled to fly in is way higher than this number, leading to endemic delays and diversions. Cumulatively 94 arrivals on a daily basis are in hours exceeding the upto 32 mark.
DIAL told airlines 75 of them can be shifted to night hours that have spare arrival capacity and the remaining 19 would need to be cancelled. Airlines cited Rs 1,000-crore loss if they did so in the peak travel season. So what was happening was a cycle of delays with more flights headed to Delhi than IGIA could handle leading to delays across the network.
The situation should hopefully improve now till mid June.
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