Dabolim runway goes dark, 15 flights affected

Panaji:Flight diversions and delays occurred as the runway lights at Goa International Airport at Dabolim went dark. The approach lighting system at the airport suffered a technical glitch on Thursday, leading to the diversion of four flights and delays of over 90 minutes for more than a dozen flights.The Indian Navy, which maintains the runway, managed to restore the lights after 45 minutes, officials said.Three flights were diverted to Manohar International Airport at Mopa, while a Hyderabad-Goa flight was diverted to Mumbai. The glitch occurred around 7pm, just before IndiGo flight 6E588 from Chennai was scheduled to land.The air traffic control tower, operated by naval personnel, informed the pilots of the inbound aircraft to divert to Mopa.IndiGo’s Hyderabad-Goa flight was asked to divert to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Subsequently, IndiGo’s inbound flights from Delhi and Raipur were also asked to divert to Mopa.Over 15 flights were affected due to the fault in the runway lighting.Airports Authority of India officials said that the issue was resolved without incident. However, passengers onboard the diverted flights were inconvenienced as they experienced delays of close to four hours.Dabolim airport operates out of the Indian Navy’s airbase, INS Hansa.