KOLKATA: Torrential rain triggered by a cloudburst near the airport forced two flights to abort landing and led to the diversion of four flights to other airports on Friday evening.
While the rest of Kolkata beyond Kaikhali remained overcast, blinding rain in the approach funnel that leads to Kolkata airport brought down visibility and made operations impossible. The rain that came down in sheets between 4pm and 6pm also led to waterlogging in some sections of the airport apron area. Nearly 100mm of rain was recorded.
Two planes — an Air India flight from Agartala and an Alliance Air flight from Jharsuguda — had to go around after missing the touchdown approach due to poor visibility and wind shear. While the AA aircraft landed later, the AI flight was diverted to Varanasi.
Three other aircraft were diverted. An IndiGo flight from Delhi was diverted to Ranchi. Another flight from Chennai was also asked to divert to Chennai. A Vistara flight from Mumbai was diverted to Mumbai. All four flights returned to Kolkata later. The cloudburst led to waterlogging on Jessore Road and craters resurfaced on VIP Road and Jessore Road that slowed down traffic.
“It took me an hour and 15 minutes to reach Belghoria Expressway from Keshtopur, which on other days, takes barely 10-15 minutes,” said Kajal Mukherjee, who was heading home to Bally.
