Airport to shut flight ops for 21 hrs from noon today
Times of India | 26 May 2024
Kolkata: The authorities at the city airport have decided to shut flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon as a measure of abundant caution in view of high winds and heavy rain as Cyclone Remal is predicted to make a landfall on the Bengal-Bangla coast around Sunday midnight.
The shutdown will lead to the cancellation of 394 flights, 54 of them international, which will affect 63,000 passengers.An official said airlines would refund them but if any passenger insisted on flying, the airlines would try to accommodate them on next available flights.
The airport authorities decided on the shutdown apparently to avoid the situation on a Singapore Airlines flight, where one passenger died of heart attack as the plane climbed and descended rapidly twice in 62 seconds, rocked by severe turbulence as it flew over the Irrawaddy delta region of Myanmar on May 21. Another 43 flyers were hospitalised, several of them sustaining critical spinal injuries.
“The decision to shut down operations is a precautionary one following the report of the director of meteorology at Kolkata airport. The Met office has forecast winds of 93 kmph-111 kmph in the approach path that could lead to severe turbulence and force suspension of operations,” an airport official said. Met officials said ground wind speed could reach 60 kmph-70 kmph, gusting at 80 kmph after midnight.
Even overflights — planes that fly between East and West over Kolkata airspace — are deviating by up to 240 km to avoid strong swirling winds that could rock aircraft. The ATC at Kolkata airport will guide planes flying over the city. Contingency measures have been drawn up with alternative routes for flights.
Most airlines are expected to fly out aircraft before noon, but the parked planes will be anchored. “We have asked all airlines to ensure ground equipment are stowed away and secured with chain. High-mast lights in the apron area will be lowered. The cyclone SOP will be followed,” said an official. All drainage channels have been cleaned.