Nedumbrassery airport suspended landing for 2 hours
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Kochi: Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) was on Thursday partially closed for two hours due to the intrusion of flood waters from Chengal canal, a tributary of Periyar bordering the airport, forcing three flights to divert.
T he CIAL is situated close to the river. The airport authorities said its operations would be affected if the Periyar water level increased substantially following the opening of the Cheruthoni dam.
The decision to suspend the arrival operation was taken after four shutters of the Idamalayar dam were opened this morning to release excess water. One shutter of the Idukki dam was also partially opened as a trial run.
The opening of the dam shutters had resulted in an increase in the water level in the Periyar river. The flood waters entered the drainage near the operations side and spread to the parking bay.
Following this, the landing stopped at 1.05 pm. The Indigo flight from Mumbai was diverted to Coimbatore, and a Spice Jet flight returned to Bangalore. An Oman Air flight from Muscat was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram.
Of these, the Oman flight later landed in Kochi.
However, a passenger who arrived at the airport in the afternoon to go to Chennai by an evening Spicejet flight said that he had to take the road route after the airline staff informed him that no plane was taking off and landing at the airport.
He also said that several passengers were seen stranded at the airport at that time.
The airport authorities said that they had opened a control room for giving information to the passengers at that time.
The release said that the decision to resume full-fledged operations was taken after the rate of increase in flood waters came down around 2.30 pm.
The operations turned normal at 3.05 pm, and the situation was under control by the evening.
However, they added that the airport operations would be affected if the Periyar water level increased substantially following the opening of the shutters of the Cheruthoni dam.
Heavy rains have been lashing several parts of Kerala for the past few days, leading to a copious inflow into the state's reservoirs.