BENGALURU: Travel plans of thousands of flyers went haywire on Tuesday evening due to poor weather at Bengaluru airport. Strong crosswinds and heavy rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, lashed Kempegowda International Airport and its surroundings for nearly an hour, causing 14 incoming flights, including two international ones, to divert to neighbouring airports. Six departing flights suffered major delays and in a cascading effect, subsequent departures from Bengaluru and arrivals from across India also suffered major delays.
According to a source at airport operator Bangalore International Airport Limited, “Flights were impacted from 4.15 pm to 5.10 pm. Of 14 arrivals, 12 were diverted to Chennai, and one each was sent to Hyderabad and Coimbatore.” This included seven Indigo flights, three Air Vistara, an Air India and an Akasa Air. Flights from Dubai and Phuket were also impacted. All the aircraft had to be refuelled at the diverted airports before returning to Bengaluru.
Chennai International Airport director Sharad Kumar confirmed the arrival of 12 flights to his airport. “They have all refuelled, and the last flight left to Bengaluru around 7.30 pm,” he told TNIE.
An official at the Airport Meteorological Office said, “Gusty winds with a speed of 30-50 kmph (15 knots to 25 knots) were reported at 4.30 pm. Visibility was only 1,000 metres but when the weather is fine, visibility is over 6 km. There was 4-5 cm of rain.”
Diverted flights
The Indigo flights arriving at Bengaluru from Dubai (6E 1486), Jodhpur (6E 6033), New Delhi (6E 2514), Dimapur (6E 958), Patna (6E 152) and Bareilly (6E 6534) were diverted to Chennai, while 6E6402 from Indore alone was diverted to Coimbatore. Two Vistara flights from Goa were diverted -- UK 512 to Hyderabad and UK 882 to Chennai -- while the New Delhi flight UK 819 was also sent to Chennai.
GoFirst’s Phuket to Bengaluru flight (G8042), Air India’s Delhi flight (AI 502), and Akasa Air’s Hyderabad (QP 1429) and Goa flights (QP 1423) were also diverted to Chennai. Among the delayed departures were flights to Mumbai, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Belagavi, Kolkata and Madurai. As a cascading effect, flights to and from other states to Bengaluru were also impacted. M Sharat Chandra, a Bengalurean waiting at Pune airport, said, “My flight was at 6.55 pm. We were informed that it would depart only at 8.55pm due to bad weather at Bengaluru airport. ”