Flight services disrupted for few hours at Chennai airport due to smog caused by Bhogi fest

Operation of several flights were disrupted for a few hours at the Chennai airport on Sunday morning due to poor visibility, which dropped to as low as 100 metres due to bhogi festival.

Chennai, Jan 14 : Operation of several flights were disrupted for a few hours at the Chennai airport on Sunday morning due to poor visibility, which dropped to as low as 100 metres due to bhogi festival.

Bhogi, marking the commencement of the four-day harvest festival in Tamil Nadu, was celebrated by the people by discarding old belongings by burning them and celebrated new possessions, signifying the arrival of a new beginning.

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In view of the Bhogi fest, the bad air quality level in Chennai worsened and several flights–both arrival and departure–were cancelled, delayed or diverted to other destinations because of smog.

Airport sources said apart from the 17 flights that were delayed, some flights to and from various destinations were cancelled at the airport and five flights which had to arrive in Chennai were diverted.

Some of the international flights that was scheduled to arrive early on Sunday from destinations including Singapore, London, Kuwait and Colombo were diverted to Hyderabad. Of the seven flights that were diverted, four had arrived before 11 a.m. and the rest also landed later once the visibility level improved.

“These disruptions occurred between 4.50 a.m. and 7.50 a.m. due to poor weather conditions. The visibility dropped to as low as 100 metres and hence flights couldn’t land or take off during those hours. Now, the flight operations have returned to normalcy and we don’t expect any further issues,” an official said.