BENGALURU: Arrival and departure of several flights from the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) were delayed on Thursday morning owing to technical checks being undertaken for the installations in the newly constructed second runway, said airport sources.
Among the flights that were affected were IndiGo 958 from Kolkata to Bengaluru; IndiGo 7133 from Vijayawada to Bengaluru; TruJet 622 from Vijaynagar to Bengaluru; IndiGo 1206 from Colombo to Bengaluru; IndiGo 347 from Coimbatore to Bengaluru; IndiGo 6417 from Hyderabad to Bengaluru; AirAsia India 1825 from Chandigarh to Bengaluru and Air Asia India 1426 from Bengaluru to Pune.
According to a source, seven aircraft were put on a holding pattern (asked to fly above the airport until permission is given to land) at 3 pm. According to a BIAL spokesperson, “The KIA has commenced calibration of the new runway since July 31 to assess the readiness of the infrastructure and ensure that the runway meets with safety and regulatory guidelines. As part of this exercise, the calibration aircraft is required to operate in close proximity of the existing operational runway, leading to disruption for arriving and departing aircraft.”