Intense monsoon winds and heavy rainfall battered India’s high-density aviation corridor on Sunday, disrupting operations across the country’s two largest cities. The storm cells triggered widespread waterlogging and forced dozens of commercial aircraft to divert from both New Delhi and Mumbai.
Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport took the brunt of the coastal system. Officials suspended all runway operations for a full hour, from 10:17 AM to 11:17 AM, after wind gusts reached 42 knots. During that window, 13 incoming aircraft were diverted to alternate airfields. IndiGo canceled four of its scheduled flights entirely before ground crews could safely resume operations.
The disruption spread north to the national capital as visibility plummeted. Air traffic controllers diverted 15 flights from Delhi. Ten domestic routes were sent to Jaipur, while five international services were rerouted to Lucknow to wait out the thunderstorms.
The India Meteorological Department issued a severe red alert for the Mumbai region, encompassing Thane and Palghar. Forecasters warned of coastal flooding and extremely heavy rainfall. Delhi remains under a yellow alert. A low-pressure trough over central India continues to concentrate moisture and intensify the current storm systems moving across the north.
Major domestic carriers rapidly adjusted their schedules. IndiGo, Air India, and Akasa Air issued urgent travel advisories across their networks. The airlines urged passengers to abandon flooded roads and use local metro systems to reach the terminals as delays cascaded through the evening.