Bad weather in Bengaluru forces diversion of 5 flights to Chennai

CHENNAI: Five flights bound for Bengaluru — including two international services — were diverted to the Chennai airport between midnight and the early hours of Thursday (May 1), due to bad weather in Bengaluru.

The diverted flights included an IndiGo flight from Hyderabad carrying 135 passengers, a Cathay Pacific service from Hong Kong with 296 passengers, an IndiGo flight from Nagpur with 127 passengers, another IndiGo service from Goa with 154 passengers, and a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt carrying 327 passengers.

All five aircraft landed in Chennai between 12.20 am and 1.55 am.

However, passengers remained onboard during the unscheduled halt.

Airlines provided basic refreshments such as water and snacks, but many travellers expressed discomfort over being confined to the aircraft for an extended period of time.

Subsequently, the five flights departed from Chennai to Bengaluru between 2.20 am and 3.55 am.

In response to the situation, a BIAL Spokesperson provided the following official statement: "On April 30, five incoming flights — including international arrivals from Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) and Frankfurt (Lufthansa), and domestic IndiGo flights from Hyderabad, Nagpur, and Goa — were temporarily diverted to Chennai due to adverse weather conditions in Bengaluru. These diversions were solely weather-related and not a result of any airside or terminal congestion at BLR Airport," they said.

(An earlier version of this article had stated that flight diversions were due to air traffic congestion. The Bengaluru International Airport Ltd later said it was due to bad weather)