Bhogi: Airlines reschedule flight arrivals, departures at Chennai airport

CHENNAI: Anticipating poor visibility on the day of Bhogi celebrations due to burning of old waste and tyres, airlines have rescheduled arrival and departure of their early morning flights at Chennai airport on Jan 13 (Monday).
Sources said Oman Air, Etihad, Air Asia and a few other international carriers have rescheduled their early morning flights.
Air Asia, which operates flights between Chennai and Kuala Lumpur, has rescheduled its flights for three days until Jan 15. The flight from Kuala Lumpur, originally scheduled to land in Chennai at 7.25 am, has been rescheduled to land at 9.35am. The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 8.05am, will depart at 10.15am on those three days. An Air Asia spokesperson said this was to avoid difficulty in landing at Chennai airport in smog conditions.
Airport authorities stated that flights getting diverted and delayed on the Bhogi day due to smog impeding visibility for pilots is a regular phenomenon, despite efforts to create awareness in the surrounding areas not to burn waste, especially items that generate thick smoke.
"This year too, we have been educating the residents in the neighbourhood of the airport about how the smoke from burning waste, coupled with foggy conditions, would affect flight operations," said an official.
C Mohan, a retired airlines official, said the menace of burning waste near the airport had decreased significantly due to measures undertaken by respective civic corporations and police. However, an airport source indicated that airlines not having accredited pilots to operate under poor visibility conditions was also one of the reasons for rescheduling the flights. "There are only a few pilots who can operate under visibility conditions of less than 400 meters. So, airlines, trying to hide their shortcomings, put the blame on the airport authorities," added the source.