Holiday crowd chokes city airport, delays flights

Flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Thoothukudi and Thiruvananthapuram were delayed for more than an hour. Besides, international flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Muscat were also delayed.

Airport sources said that there was an extraordinary crowd at the airport during the day due to the holiday season, as many people were travelling to their hometown from Chennai.

“From Wednesday morning the Chennai airport was overcrowded at both the domestic and International terminals,” an airport official said.

According to sources, usually the CISF counters would be increased and there would be more security personnel deployed for checking the passengers. “On Wednesday, there were no extra counters and CISF personnel could not control the crowd. The passengers had to wait in the queue for long time, and as a result they could not complete the checking and broad the flight on time,” an official added.

Airport director G Chandramouli visited the security clearance area and directed the personnel to speed up the checks. However, the flights were delayed till evening.