Cyclone Remal: Kolkata airport suspends flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon | Travel

Kolkata: Kolkata airport authorities have decided to suspend flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon due to possible impact of Cyclone Remal, an official said here. A total of 394 flights (arrivals and departures) in international and domestic sectors would not operate to and from the airport during the flight suspension, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) spokesperson told PTI. The precautionary measure was taken after a meeting of stakeholders of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport here on Saturday, the official said.

This was according to the report of the meteorological department during the meeting. It said that strong winds were blowing with speeds exceeding 50 to 60 knots and gusts of up to 70 knots. One knot is equal to 1,852 kmph. Considering 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 between 12:00 IST on May 26 and 09:00 IST on May 27 due to the forecast strong winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Kolkata, NSCBI Airport Director C Pattabhi said in a statement. With wind speed of 110-120 kmph and gusts of up to 135 kmph, the cyclone is likely to make landfall on the adjoining coast of West Bengal and Bangladesh around midnight on May 26.

The Met Office has warned of extremely heavy rainfall in coastal districts of West Bengal and North Odisha on May 26 and 27. A storm surge of up to 1.5 metres is expected to inundate low-lying coastal areas of West Bengal and Bangladesh at the time of landfall. The Director of Kolkata Airport has called a meeting on Friday with all stakeholders including AAI, Met Office, Air Traffic Control (ATC), Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) and others in view of the cyclone. According to a senior AAI official, this may be the first time that en route weather conditions have been taken into consideration for both aircraft and passengers so that the passengers can reach their respective destinations on time after landing here.

Similarly, no flights will arrive or depart from Kolkata after noon on Sunday, even though the cyclone is still well ahead of landfall time. Hence, no aircraft departing or arriving would encounter very bad weather en route, the official explained. Other standard safety-related procedures like lowering high mast lights, stowing all equipment in safer places and shifting vehicles to hangars are being followed. Also, smaller aircraft are yet to be tied down, the official said.