Rajiv Gandhi International Airport lies in the tropics at 17.23° N, 78.43° E, on Asia/Kolkata time (UTC+5:30). Tropical airports contend with heat and humidity, both of which thin the air and lengthen takeoff runs, and with convective storms that build fast in the afternoon.
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has 2 runways. The longest, 09R/27L, measures 13,976 ft by 197 ft, which puts the field in the full-length intercontinental category: a fully loaded Boeing 777 or Airbus A350 can depart for the far side of the world. The surface is asphalt. Both are lit for night operations.
Runway 09R/27L is aligned roughly east/west, which is the clearest hint you get about the prevailing wind here: runways are built to face the wind that blows most often, because aircraft take off and land into it. Every runway here shares that east/west alignment, so a strong crosswind means a crosswind landing rather than a switch to another strip.
The runways are not interchangeable. 09L/27R is 12,162 ft against 09R/27L's 13,976 ft, a difference of 1,814 ft, so the shorter one generally takes regional traffic while the longer handles anything heavy.