KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's aircraft landed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here on Thursday afternoon after heavy rain and strong winds forced it to remain airborne for more than an hour, officials said.
She was returning to the state capital after attending election rallies in Paschim Bardhaman district's Andal when the weather turned adverse, affecting flight operations at the airport.
The chief minister was travelling in a chartered flight, which had taken off from the Andal airport around 3.30 pm and was scheduled to land in Kolkata around 4 pm.
However, a sudden thunderstorm, heavy rain and gusty winds in Kolkata prevented the aircraft from landing on time and forced it to circle in the air for over an hour, airport sources said.
"Due to adverse weather conditions, the CM's flight was unable to land at the Kolkata airport for some time," an airport official had said earlier.
In view of the inclement weather, flight operations at the airport had to be temporarily suspended for approximately 20 minutes, the official had added.
The chief minister's aircraft eventually landed safely at 5.19 pm after weather conditions improved and flight operations resumed, officials added.