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14 flights diverted from Kolkata to Guwahati

May 25, 2009 20:17 IST

Outbound flights from Guwahati were cancelled this afternoon in the wake of the cyclonic storm that hit Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal while 14 Kolkata-bound flights from different destinations were diverted to airports at Guwahati and Bagdogra in North Bengal.

According to a source in Guwahati airport, no flight scheduled to leave Guwahati would be allowed. Six flights travelling to Kolkata from different parts of the country had been diverted to Guwahati airport and were now stranded at the runway with passengers abroad. Source informed that it was not clear when these diverted flights would be allowed to leave the airport as everything depended on the situation in Kolkata.

Two flights belonging to Jet Airways (201) and Indigo (207) were not allowed to leave from Guwahati airport to Kolkata. The flights which were diverted included Indian Airlines Flight 244 (Agartala-Kolkata), Indigo flight 351 (Hyderabad –Kolkata), Spice Jet flight 208 (Delhi-Kolkata), Indigo flight 321 (Mumbai-Kolkata), Jet flight 922 (Delhi-Kolkata) and Indian Airlines flight 230 (Guwahati-Kolkata) which was diverted after it had taken off from Guwahati.

All flights are now stranded in the airport runway. Some passengers are still trapped inside aircrafts while some passengers are waiting in the terminal. Initially, passengers were not allowed to leave their aircraft much to their chagrin. These flights may leave Guwahati as soon as the weather opens up in Kolkata.

K Anurag in Guwhati