Chaos at Chennai airport
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It was chaos at the city airport on Wednesday with three aircraft including an international flight from Riyadh being diverted to other airports in the country.
Arrivals and departures of other flights were also delayed by about 10 to 45 minutes due to closure of a portion of the runway and two taxiways at the airport from 7 am to 1 pm.
“There was utter confusion as a lot of planes began circling around the city waiting to land during the partial closure period,” said airport sources.
While the Saudi Arabian airline diverted their flight to Mumbai halfway through to Chennai after hearing about the milling works, flights from Madurai and Hyderabad were redirected to Bengaluru airport before returning to the city later in the day.
A pilot who landed at the city airport during the partial closure period said he was forced to take a 180-degree turn on the runway and use the next available taxiway.
“This manoeuvre takes a long time and so the aircraft had to spend more time on the runway affecting the schedule of other flights,” he added.
When contacted, Airport director Mr H.S. Suresh said that the NOTAM (notice to airmen) for partial closure of the runway had been issued a long time back.
“The works should have begun on Tuesday, but due to some technical issues we started only on Wednesday,” he added.
He also said the reason for diversion of flights was only due to miscommunication between the airlines and the originating stations.
“We had clearly informed that only three-fourths of the runway would be available during the NOTAM period. We cannot move heavy machineries and men (from the runway) for the landing of one flight,” he added.
While milling works would continue at the Pallavaram end of the runway for another three days, the airport authorities are planning to close a similar area at the Trident hotel side next week.
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