Chennai: Continuous heavy rainfall has resulted in the cancellation of four Air India Express flights scheduled for today at Chennai Airport. Passengers are advised to contact their airlines for updates on flight arrivals and departures.
One of the cancelled flights was set to depart for Kolkata at 10:40 PM. Additionally, a flight arriving from Thiruvananthapuram at 1:45 PM, another from Siliguri at 6:10 PM, and a Kolkata flight due to arrive at 10:00 PM were also cancelled.
Yesterday, seven departure flights and five arrivals were cancelled for various reasons. Flights to Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Shimoga, Bagdogra, Jaffna, and Kolkata faced cancellations, as did those arriving from Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Kochi, Kolkata, and Jaffna.
Airport officials noted that eight flights were cancelled due to operational issues, while two were affected by technical problems. Poor weather in Jaffna contributed to the disruptions on those routes.
In an unrelated incident, a New Delhi to Chennai flight was diverted to Bengaluru on Wednesday morning, unable to land due to adverse weather conditions.
These flight cancellations add to the ongoing challenges at Chennai Airport. On December 9, a SpiceJet flight returning to Chennai shortly after takeoff due to a mid-air technical issue safely landed back at 7:15 AM after departing at 6:30 AM.
During Cyclone Fengal, an IndiGo Airbus A320 narrowly avoided a mishap while attempting to land at Chennai, initiating a go-around just inches from the ground. Additionally, a flight scheduled for Thoothukudi was diverted to Madurai due to technical issues but safely made an emergency landing, carrying 77 passengers, including Tamil Nadu’s Public Works Minister, E.V. Velu.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has issued ‘orange’ and ‘yellow’ alerts for several districts in Tamil Nadu, following the formation of a well-marked low-pressure system over the southwest and adjacent southeast Bay of Bengal near Sri Lanka, which is expected to move west-northwest towards the Tamil Nadu-Sri Lanka coastline within the next 24 hours.