Patna: Nine flights were diverted and three others were grounded at Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport in Patna on Wednesday afternoon after a fire tender was stuck near its runway. Flight operations at the airport came to a halt at 1.10pm and the runway remained closed till 3.30pm.
Airport director Bhupesh CH Negi said in a statement that the air traffic control (ATC) tower detected minor grass fire about 22 metres away from the runway edge on its northern side around 12.10pm. “The fire started due to the use of crackers by personnel deployed along the runway for scaring away birds as per the standard operating procedure to avoid bird hit,” he said.
Negi said the fire tender was sent near the runway to douse the fire. “During the process of extinguishing the fire, the fire tender tyres got stuck near the runway possibly due to soft surface because of overnight rain,” Negi said.
The airport director said the runway was closed as a precautionary measure and flight operations remained suspended from 1.10pm to 3.30pm. “The Crash Fire Tender was removed with the help of earthmovers,” he said.
While flight operations resumed at 3.40pm after proper inspections, a number of flyers were annoyed and voiced their frustration over lengthy delays and lack of communication from the airlines.
Several flyers tweeted their experience after coming to know that their flights had been diverted to a different airport.
“The Patna airport is a terrible, terrible place. It almost broke me, emotionally. The employees there are trying, but it is way too small for the number of passengers and it is highly disorganized in terms of process,” tweeted Guha Krishnamurthi, a law student.
19/09/19 Faryal Rumi/Times of India
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Airport director Bhupesh CH Negi said in a statement that the air traffic control (ATC) tower detected minor grass fire about 22 metres away from the runway edge on its northern side around 12.10pm. “The fire started due to the use of crackers by personnel deployed along the runway for scaring away birds as per the standard operating procedure to avoid bird hit,” he said.
Negi said the fire tender was sent near the runway to douse the fire. “During the process of extinguishing the fire, the fire tender tyres got stuck near the runway possibly due to soft surface because of overnight rain,” Negi said.
The airport director said the runway was closed as a precautionary measure and flight operations remained suspended from 1.10pm to 3.30pm. “The Crash Fire Tender was removed with the help of earthmovers,” he said.
While flight operations resumed at 3.40pm after proper inspections, a number of flyers were annoyed and voiced their frustration over lengthy delays and lack of communication from the airlines.
Several flyers tweeted their experience after coming to know that their flights had been diverted to a different airport.
“The Patna airport is a terrible, terrible place. It almost broke me, emotionally. The employees there are trying, but it is way too small for the number of passengers and it is highly disorganized in terms of process,” tweeted Guha Krishnamurthi, a law student.
19/09/19 Faryal Rumi/Times of India
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