NEW DELHI: Thunderstorms and heavy rain forced the diversion of 15 incoming flights to Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) to Jaipur, Chandigarh and Lucknow on Monday afternoon. All landed safely in Delhi by evening. Hundreds of departing flights were also delayed through the day.
“Of the 15 flights diverted from Delhi airport due to weather conditions, three are international. Twelve were diverted to Jaipur International Airport, two to Chandigarh and one to Lucknow,” a Delhi airport source said.
Of the international flights, an Air India flight from Singapore was diverted to Lucknow, while flights from Dubai and Sharjah were diverted to Jaipur. A Jaipur airport source said the first diverted flight arrived at 12.25pm and the last at 1.05pm. Passengers were kept on board as the flights were expected to depart for Delhi once the weather cleared. The last diverted flight left for Delhi around 4pm.
According to Flightradar24, flights diverted to Jaipur included Air India flights from Singapore (AI 2381), Chennai (AI 2526) and Bhubaneswar (AI 1814); Air India Express flights from Sharjah (IX 136), Indore (IX 1236), Ranchi (IX 1047) and Imphal (IX 1462); SpiceJet’s flight from Leh (SG 126); and IndiGo flights from Chennai (6E 404), Siliguri (6E 6125) and Goa (6E 2102). IndiGo flights from Dibrugarh (6E 6373) and Bengaluru (6E 830) were diverted to Chandigarh, while an Akasa Air flight from Mumbai (QP 1834) was diverted to Lucknow.
The Airports Authority of India and airlines issued advisories asking passengers to reach the airport well in advance, warning that road traffic could be affected by the rain.