Firecracker smoke delays 26 flights at Chennai airport
An IndiGo flight from Raipur was diverted to Bengaluru due to low visibility caused by Diwali celebrations.
Thick smoke from Diwali firecrackers reduced visibility at Chennai airport on Sunday night, delaying 26 flights and forcing one aircraft to divert, according to Moneycontrol and ETV Bharat.
The smoke, which collected near the runway in the Meenambakkam residential area, caused visibility to drop to approximately 900 metres. This was below the minimum runway visual range of 950 metres required for landing on runway 07, Chennai airport authorities said.
IndiGo flight 6E2002, travelling from Raipur to Chennai with 78 passengers, was diverted to Bengaluru at 11.15 pm as a precautionary measure. The aircraft, registration VT-ILJ, later returned to Chennai and landed at 1.54 am.
A total of 11 arriving flights from locations including Kolkata, Delhi, Singapore, and Bangkok were affected. Ten of these flights landed once visibility improved, while 15 departures to destinations such as Dubai, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi were also delayed.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) monitored runway visibility continuously to ensure safe operations. While rain in the morning had initially limited celebrations, firecracker bursting increased in Chennai and its suburbs after the rain stopped in the evening.