Mumbai: Some 225 flights were cancelled and scores rescheduled at Mumbai airport on Monday after the main runway was closed for six hours for pre-monsoon maintenance.

The Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which runs the city airport, has said the main runway will remain closed between 11am and 5pm on Tuesday too.

Mumbai airport happens to be the operations base of Jet Airways (and budget carrier GoAir too), which carries out a substantial proportion of its domestic and international operations from there.

While Jet cancelled 70 flights, including 54 domestic ones, Air India scrapped 34. Jet also rescheduled 70 flights, including 17 international ones, while Air India diverted four.

"Due to the pre-planned maintenance activities before the monsoon season, the runway at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport will be closed on April 9-10 from 1100 hours to 1700 hours. Guests planning their travel during this period are requested to allow for sufficient time, in case of delays, while making their bookings," Jet had informed its passengers through its website ahead of the runway closure.

"The main runway of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, handled by GVK MIAL, will be non-operational on April 9 and 10 between 1100 hours and 1700 hours on account of pre-monsoon maintenance activities," MIAL had said in a statement earlier in the day.

MIAL requested passengers to get in touch with their respective airlines.

SpiceJet and GoAir said they had cancelled 18 and seven flights respectively, while Vistara said it scrapped six.

Mumbai airport, the second busiest in the country, has two crossing runways - 09/27 (the main one) and 14/32 (the secondary runway).

The primary runway can handle up to 48 arrivals and departures an hour, and the secondary runway can handle 35 an hour. On average, 970 flights arrive at and depart from Mumbai airport every day. PTI