CHENNAI: The Chennai airport and ports in the city, which were shut ahead of Cyclone Nivar, have resumed operations on Thursday.
A British Airways flight from Heathrow was the first to land at the airport after the cyclone at 9 am.
The airport was initially shut for 12 hours from 7 pm to 7 am due to Cyclone Nivar. However, officials extended the shutdown for two more hours. The decision was taken after assessing the prevailing climatic conditions and taking passenger safety as top priority, an airport spokesman said.
"We handed the runway back to Air Traffic Control around 8.54 am for resuming operations," said the spokesman.
Meanwhile, Chennai Port, which had shut its operations on Tuesday, resumed roadside movement on Thursday. "We have opened our gates for vehicular transport. The roadside cranes will also be put into operation," said Chennai Port chairman P Raveendran.
He said the shipping operations will resume by evening as ships which were asked to go to outer anchorage will return to the port one by one.
Meanwhile, Coast Guard ships Sujay, Shaurya, Sarang and Shaunak are undertaking damage assessment of the seaward area from Nizamapatnam to Point Calimere. A disaster relief team of the Coast Guard is ready for distribution of relief material to cyclone affected areas in Puducherry in coordination with the state administration and marine police.