The Hindu : Front Page : Bangalore airport shuts down operations for four hours

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006

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Bangalore airport shuts down operations for four hours

Staff Reporter

Over 30 flights were diverted; take-offs of several others rescheduled

BANGALORE: Chaos and confusion reigned at the city's HAL Airport, as over 30 flights were diverted and take-offs of several other flights rescheduled for about four hours on Tuesday afternoon.

The airport's already overstretched infrastructure had to bear the big crowd of waiting passengers and friends and relatives who had come to see them off.

A senior official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) official told The Hindu that the airport was closed for four hours from 2 p.m.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which owns the airport, wanted to check the runway for every flight. It also wanted to carry out emergency repairs on the runway, which had suffered damages after a Kiran trainer aircraft of the Indian Air Force made a belly-landing on Monday.

The damaged portions were repaired later and normal flight operations resumed thereafter. On Monday, the airport had shut down all operations for about one and half hours.

For passengers awaiting their turn to check-in and clear out, the four hours turned out to be traumatic. What upset the passengers most was that the airport closure was not announced in advance. The AAI official said the flight operations were back to normal by night and there was no cascading effect. "But the individual airlines had delays to make up for the time lost due to the four-hour closure. Our airport is very small and the traffic is heavy. These things happen," the official said.

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