Technical flights have started from rain-hit Chennai airport where operations were suspended on Wednesday following flooding but it may take 2-3 days to resume commercial flights, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said today. “Four aircraft that had been held up at Chennai airport have left”.
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“Once power supply is restored and water evacuation happens, we can restart commercial flight services”, Sharma added. One cargo flight Singcargo B747 also departed for Singapore via Bangalore.
As many as 100 people are still stranded at the Chennai airport which has been shut till December 6, and their evacuation is expected to be completed by Friday morning, the Ministry had said.
The runway, however, will be available only for day-time operations and a decision regarding full-fledged operations will be taken by the aviation regulator DGCA, Airports Authority of India said late on Saturday. The runway has been cleared for operations after inspections by officials and experts, another AAI official said.
Briefing reporters about plans to restore flight connectivity from Chennai, Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey said a plan is being made to operate at least six flights on Friday and Saturday. Within the wake of heavy rains and flooding of the runway and close by operational regions, AAI had closed the airport for normal operations on December 2 till December 6.
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“DGCA will review the situation for night operations tomorrow (Sunday)”, the statement said. As many as 20 global airlines operates from Chennai airport apart from most of the domestic carriers.
