Diversions, delays galore at Chennai airport

Chennai: Nearly 17 flights were diverted from the Chennai Airport on Sunday due to cyclone Jal and the inability by the airport authorities to cope with the weather contingencies. It also caused delays and cancellations of other flights.
Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Air India each reported four diversions while ATC officials said that almost 17 flights were diverted until 3 pm.
While AI Express’s Colombo flight returned to its source station, other flights were diverted to Hyderabad and Bangalore. Sources said no flights were allowed to land or depart for at least an hour in the morning. Many flights which taxied out for take off were sent back to the bay by the ATC. Runway 07 was operational in the morning but when the Runway Visual Range (RVR- a device used to measure visibility of runway centerline while landing) failed to respond, runway 25 was put into use. Kingfisher flights that were diverted had to be eventually cancelled.
08/11/10 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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Categories: Airports Nov 2010