KOCHI/ KOZHIKODE: The Cochin International Airport Ltd., which was shut down for 14 days due to floods last year, will not be operational till 9 am on August 9, as a precautionary measure, even as several flights were diverted during the day due to low visibility and bad weather.
“Kochi airport operation is temporarily suspended due to water logging in the apron area," a statement by the CIAL PRO said.
The airport apron or tarmac is the area of an airport where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refuelled, or boarded.
Flights were also diverted from the Kozhikode airport on Thursday.
Due to the fall in air visibility to below minimum, flights from Gulf Air (260) ( Bahrain to Kozhikode), which was to land at Kozhikode at 4:30 am was diverted to Kochi. Etihad 250, (Abu Dhabi to Kozhikode) which was was to land at 4:45 am was diverted to Coimbatore before coming back at 9:16 am. Etihad 251 (Kozhikode to Abu Dhabi), which was scheduled to take off at 5:45 am, has been rescheduled to 12 am at night today.
The Air India Express (Trivandrum to Kozhikode) supposed to land at Kozhikode at 10:55 am was diverted to Kochi and arrived at Kozhikode at 1:45 pm.
Delayed flights at Kozhikode were - Air India Express393 (Kozhikode to Kuwait), Air India Express351 ( Kozhikode to Sharjah) Air India Express373 (Kozhikode to Doha). The rescheduled time of these flights has not been decided.
At Kochi, Indigo flight 6E 683 (Hyderabad to Kochi) was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram airport while Indigo flight 6E 5311 (Mumbai to Kochi) was diverted to Madurai. It returned to Kochi at 3:00 pm.
Last year, the Cochin Airport was closed from August 15 to August 29 as floodwaters inundated the runway and damaged nearly 800 runway lights.
The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) has issued an emergency helpline number ‘1077’ for people in the state.