West Bengal: Heavy rain delays flights in Kolkata – Times of India

KOLKATA: Twenty-one flights were delayed for anything between 35 minutes to 40 minutes and some others were delayed for less than half an hour at the Kolkata airport due to heavy rain between 9am and 6pm on Tuesday. However, there were no cancellations, airport officials clarified.
“A total of 11 departure and 10 arrival flights were delayed between 9am and 6pm owing to heavy rains in this part of the city. The average period of delay was between 35 minutes to 40 minutes,” the airport director C Pattabhi said.
Since the start of the morning, an intense spell of thunderstorm with moderate to heavy rainfall had continued over several parts of Kolkata and its neighbouring areas including the area surrounding Kolkata airport. The intense rain caused major waterlogging on Jessore Road outside the airport, a 1 sq-km stretch of Haldiram’s on VIP Road and Chinar Park on the New Town’s main arterial road slowing down airport bound traffic.
Vistara were even quick to issue an advisory at 9.44am, alerting passengers about the waterlogging situation outside the airport. “#TravelUpdate: Due to waterlogging on account of heavy rains in Kolkata, traffic congestion is expected. Customers travelling are advised to allow more time for their journey to the airport. Thank you!” – the airline had tweeted.
Other airlines too said they reported some passengers arriving late as they complained of being stuck in slow traffic but they had allowed them entry considering the situation.
Inset:
A Guwahati bound SpiceJet flight from Patna carrying 30 passengers made an emergency landing at the Kolkata airport around 8pm on Tuesday after the pilot noticed some noise coming from the engine and diverted the flight to Kolkata citing technical issues. All passengers were transferred to a separate flight as the aircraft was sent for maintenance.