Air India Express cancels flights at Chennai airport due to deluge

Chennai, Dec 12: Continuous heavy rains have led to the cancellation of four flights of Air India Express that were scheduled to operate and arrive at Chennai Airport on December 12. Airport officials have advised passengers to contact their respective airlines to confirm flight arrival and departure timings. According to Air India Express, a flight of the airline to Kolkata scheduled to depart at 10:40 P.M. on Thursday has been cancelled.

Similarly, an Air India Express flight from Thiruvananthapuram, scheduled to arrive at 1:45 P.M. at Chennai, a flight from Siliguri, scheduled to arrive at 6:10 P.M. and another flight from Kolkata, scheduled to arrive at 10:00 P.M. also stand cancelled. It may be recalled that on Wednesday seven departure flights and five arrival flights at Chennai airport were cancelled due to various reasons. Flights bound for Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Shimoga, Bagdogra, Jaffna, and Kolkata were cancelled on Wednesday.

Flights arriving from Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Kochi, Kolkata, and Jaffna were also cancelled on the same day. Airport officials revealed that eight flights were cancelled due to operational reasons, while two faced technical issues. Poor weather conditions in Jaffna were cited as the reason for the cancellation of both departure and arrival flights on that route. In a separate incident, a flight from New Delhi to Chennai was diverted to Bengaluru on Wednesday morning after rain disrupted operations.

The flight, scheduled to land at 10:00 A.M., was unable to do so due to adverse weather conditions. These incidents add to a series of aviation challenges faced by Chennai Airport in recent days. On Monday (December 9), a SpiceJet flight from Chennai to Kochi made an emergency return to Chennai Airport after encountering a technical glitch mid-air. The flight, carrying 117 passengers, safely landed back at 7:15 A.M. after taking off at 6:30 A.M.

During Cyclone Fengal, an IndiGo Airbus A320 narrowly avoided a mishap while attempting to land at Chennai Airport. The pilot aborted the landing just inches from the ground and performed a go-around. A flight scheduled to land in Thoothukudi was diverted to Madurai due to technical issues. After circling briefly, the aircraft made a safe emergency landing in Madurai. Among the 77 passengers on board was Tamil Nadu’s Public Works Minister, E.V. Velu.

It is to be noted that the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has issued ‘orange’ and ‘yellow’ alerts for several districts in Tamil Nadu. This follows the development of a well marked low pressure system over the southwest and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal, near the Sri Lankan coast. The system, accompanied by an upper air cyclonic circulation extending to mid-tropospheric levels, is expected to move west-northwestward towards the Tamil Nadu-Sri Lanka coastline within the next 24 hours.