Weather disrupts India flights

Dubai: A number of flights from India to the UAE and vice-versa were diverted or delayed yesterday because of the heavy rains in a few cities in India. Flights from Kerala and Mumbai were diverted or rescheduled as the aircraft were unable to land or take-off from these airports.
Indian, the Indian carrier that operates a flight from Mumbai to Sharjah via Calicut and Cochin, failed to land in Calicut after taking off from Mumbai airport on Saturday evening. Speaking to Khaleej Times, Abhay Pathak, Indian?s regional manager for the Gulf, said, "after the flight failed to land in Calicut due to bad weather, it was diverted to Cochin. The pilots again tried to land the aircraft in Calicut but had to go back to Cochin."
Pathak explained that because of the delay of the flight IC 595, the officials had to request the Sharjah airport authorities to extend the watch-hours. The carrier was given a 30-minute grace as special permission and the landing time was extended to 1.30am.
"However, the aircraft is grounded in Cochin because of a technical snag. The flight has not been able to pick up passengers from Cochin nor come back to Sharjah," Pathak said. The airline is trying to organise a shuttle between Calicut and Sharjah and there are 230 passengers on board.
Meanwhile, speaking to Khaleej Times, an official from the Department of Civil Aviation in Dubai said, "the Emirates airline flight, which was supposed to leave Mumbai yesterday morning should land in Dubai by 9 in the evening. All flights from Hyderabad are on schedule so far."
25/06/07 Khaleej Times/Daijiworld.com

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Categories: Foreign Jun 2007, General Aviation Jun 2007