Poor visibility disrupts flight services at Chennai airport

Many passengers were frustrated due to the delays and diversions and took to social media platforms to vent their ire

Chennai witnessed a dip in air quality on Sunday. A scene at the airport. | Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj

The Chennai airport witnessed severe flight disruptions on Sunday owing to bad weather conditions induced by smog.

A total of 17 flights were delayed, 14 flights to and from various destinations were cancelled, and five were diverted.

Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that several flights scheduled to arrive from, and depart to, cities including Mumbai, Coimbatore, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Madurai were cancelled. International flights from destinations including Singapore, London, Kuwait and Colombo were diverted to Hyderabad.

“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 m, and hence, flights couldn’t land or take off. Now, normal operations have resumed, and we don’t expect any further issues,” an official said.

Frustrated with the delays and diversions, many passengers took to social media to vent their ire.

“@IndiGo6E @aaichnairport 6E 1002 traveling from Singapore to Chennai, due to weather conditions landed in Hyderabad at 05:20AM, until now no proper response from airline staffs, no proper arrangements for the passengers, until now all passengers got seated in airlines more than 10hrs…..Passengers all got angry and left from airplane to discuss with officials,” Balaguhan, a passenger, said in a post on X.

Aspire K. Swaminathan, whose flight to Tiruchi was scheduled to depart at 9.25 a.m., said that the situation at the airport was chaotic. “The passengers of a flight to Mumbai which was delayed were waiting at gate number 12, and were blocking the gate. Because of this, the passengers bound for Madurai and Tiruchi couldn’t board their flight on time. It was very poorly managed. Neither the airline nor the CISF personnel offered help. As a result, my flight was delayed by about 20 minutes,” he said.

Some passengers were upset that they had to wait for hours, and no refreshments or alternative arrangements were made by the airline.

An official of Airports Authority of India said bad weather and poor visibility in Delhi were also to blame for delays and cancellations at Chennai airport.