How Air India engineers braved the rain to restart Mumbai airport in 24 hrs

More than 90 people worked for 24 hours in incessant rains to pull out the SpiceJet aircraft

More than 90 people worked constantly for 24 hours in incessant rain to pull out the SpiceJet aircraft, weighing 41 tonnes, that kept the primary runway of the Mumbai airport shut and disrupted operations at the country’s second busiest airport.

“The advantage was that our aircraft recovery kit is based in Mumbai, so our men were on the ground quickly,” said H R Jagannath, chief executive of Air India Engineering Services (AIESL), which carried out the operation.

It was not a new incident for the team, as AIESL has undertaken similar operations, including retrieving a Turkish Airlines A-330, which kept the Kathmandu