Cyclone Remal: Kolkata Airport suspends flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon

Kolkata: Kolkata airport authorities have decided to suspend flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon due to the possible impact of Cyclone Remal, an official said here. A total of 394 flights (arrivals and departures, both 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 happened during the meeting according to the report of the Meteorological Service Agency, which stated that there were strong winds with speeds of more than 50 to 60 knots and gusts of up to 70 knots. One knot is equal 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 12:00 noon IST on May 26 to 09:00 am 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.

With wind speeds of 110 to 120 km/h and gusts of up to 135 km/h, the cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall on the coast of West Bengal and Bangladesh around midnight on May 26.

The Met Office has warned of extremely heavy rainfall in the 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 the low-lying areas of coastal West Bengal and Bangladesh at the time of landfall. The Director of Kolkata Airport has also called a meeting with all stakeholders including AAI, Met Office, Air Traffic Control (ATC), Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) and others on Friday in view of the cyclone.

According to a senior AAI official, this may be the first time that weather conditions en route have been taken into account for both the aircraft and the passengers, so that passengers have sufficient time to reach their respective destinations after landing here.

“Similarly, no flights will depart or arrive from Kolkata after 12 noon on Sunday, and that is well before the landfall time of the cyclone. So, no aircraft would encounter very bad weather en route,” the official explained.

Other standard safety-related procedures are also being carried out, such as lowering high mast lights, stowing all equipment in safer locations and moving vehicles within the hangars.

In addition, the mooring of smaller aircraft must also be completed, the official said.