July 2 (AZINS) Flight services at the city airport were severely affected Tuesday with airlines cancelling 203 serivces due to incessant rains and suspension of operations from the main runway due to the skidding of an aircraft Monday night, airport officials said.

Besides, another 350-odd flights -- both arriving and departing -- were delayed between 28-51 minutes (till 7 pm), as per the live flight tracking website Flightradar24.

"A total of 203 flights were cancelled at the Mumbai airport due to inclement weather and non-availability of the main runway for operations," an airport official said.

Mumbai airport authorities had earlier in the day said 52 flights were cancelled and another 55 diverted to the nearby airports till 10 am Tuesday due to "inclement weather" and partial closure of operations.

A SpiceJet flight from Jaipur carrying 167 passengers and crew overshot the runway after landing amid heavy rains. The aircraft is stuck partially on the runway and the nearby grass area.

The main runway of the Mumbai airport will remain closed for flight operations till Thursday as it will take more time to remove the plane.

Due to runway excursion by the arriving aircraft, the main runway is not available and the secondary runway is put in use. Please expect delays in flight operations. Our team is trying their best to bring the main runway back in operation and this may take up to 48 hrs," airport authorities said in a statement.

Passengers have been advised to check with the airline before travelling to the airport. As the traffic is badly hit in Mumbai due to waterlogged roads and train tracks, the airport has also advised flyers to allocate sufficient travel time for reaching the airport.

Meanwhile, a team of engineers and technicians from Air India has started work to remove the stuck plane with the Disabled Aircraft Recovery Kit (DARK). The kit, used to remove stuck aircraft, is only available with the national carrier, an Air India spokesperson said.

"A 150-metre long ramp is being prepared to enable push the aircraft out of the grassy area. Air India's disable aircraft removal kit has been mobilised," an official of the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said.

MIAL is the airport operator.

The officials said the aircraft is likely to removed by Thursday and then the runway would be fully operational.

"Currently, secondary runway is in use. Our team is trying their best to bring the main runway back into operation and this may take up to 48 hours," MIAL said in a tweet.

Mumbai airport has two runways.

While the main runway can handle 48 plane movements every hour, the second one can handle only up to 35 aircraft movements an hour, according to MIAL.

The city's airport is the second busiest in the country, handling around 1,000 arrivals and departures per day. The airport in Delhi is the busiest as it handles around 1,300 movements per day.

"A 150-metre long ramp is being prepared to push the aircraft out of the grassy area. Air India's Disabled Aircraft Removal Kit has been mobilised," said an official of MIAL, the airport operator.

Amid cancellation of services, domestic airlines such as AI and private carriers like IndiGo, Vistara and GoAir announced waiving of rescheduling/cancellation charges for the flights booked to and from Mumbai for July 3.

The Monday's incident was the second in one week of a SpiceJet aircraft overshooting the runway.

Another SpiceJet aircraft suffered veered off the runway central line during the landing at the Kolkata airport. But its pilots later managed to align the jet with the central line, averting a mishap. However, it left four runway edge lights damaged.

"On July 2, SpiceJet Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated flight SG-275 from Pune to Kolkata. The aircraft landed on runway 19L. During landing roll aircraft veered off towards the right from the runway center line owing to wet runway/ heavy rain," SpiceJet said in a statement.

Pilots took corrective action immediately to get the aircraft on centre line, it said, adding four runway edge lights were inadvertently damaged. "Passengers deplaned normally. All passengers and crew were safe," the statement said.

On June 30, a SpiceJet plane from Bhopal veered off the runway at Surat airport due to heavy rainfall and wind.  An Air India Express flight veered off the taxiway after landing and got stuck in soft ground at the Mangalore airport on the same day. 

All these incidents are being probed by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). 

DGCA has issued safety directions to airlines in the wake of multiple incidents of planes overshooting runways while operating amidst bad weather conditions.

The regulator said that the airlines must "make available sufficiently experienced crew in the cockpit".

The DGCA circular also said that the crew rostering should factor in the "fatigue element associated with the operations during adverse weather conditions".

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told PTI that it is probing the incidents of planes overshooting runways.

(With PTI inputs)