Cyclone Remal: Kolkata airport suspends flight operations – Inside details – Airlines/Aviation News

As Cyclone Remal is likely to make landfall in West Bengal today, the Kolkata airport authorities will suspend flight operations for 21 hours from noon today.

An airport authority of India An AAI spokesperson said a total of 394 flights, both international and domestic, are not operating to and from the airport. during the suspension.

The precautionary measure was implemented following a meeting of stakeholders at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBI) on Saturday.

This decision was taken during the meeting based on the report of the Meteorological Service, which indicated that strong winds with speeds of over 50 to 60 knots and gusts of up to 70 knots were to be expected. One knot corresponds to 1.852 km/h.

“In view of the impact of Cyclone Remal on the coastal region of West Bengal including Kolkata, a meeting was held with the stakeholders and it was decided to suspend flight operations from 1200 IST. from May 26 to 09:00 IST on May 27 due to forecast strong winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Kolkata,” NSCBI Airport Director C Pattabhi said in a statement.

The Director of Kolkata Airport called a meeting on Friday with all stakeholders, including representatives of AAI, Meteorological Department, Air Traffic Control (ATC), Communication, Navigation and Surveillance Authority (CNS) and others, in view of the cyclone.

A senior AAI official pointed out that this may be the first time that weather conditions along the route are being taken into account for both aircraft and passengers to ensure that passengers are given sufficient time to reach their destination after landing.

“Similarly, no flights will arrive or depart from Kolkata after 12 noon on Sunday, which is well before the cyclone’s landfall. So, no aircraft would encounter very bad weather on its way,” the official explained.

Other safety measures such as lowering the high mast lights, shifting the equipment to safer areas and moving the vehicles to hangars are currently underway. In addition, mooring of smaller aircraft also needs to be completed, the official added.

(With PTI inputs)