Chennai floods: Commercial flight resume operations amid heavy rains around

Chennai: The flight operations in flood-marred Chennai resumed after a Chennai-Port Blair flight took off at 10:40 AM on Sunday.

Earlier, in the morning, heavy rains were reported in and around Chennai airport area ahead of resumption of flight operations.

The airport authorities had received requests from national carrier Air India to operate flights on Sunday after the AAI announced day-time operations of passenger flights from the airport.

"Air India has informed us that it will operate a chartered flight to Port Blair and one flight to and fro Chennai on Sunday," sources told PTI.

The Air India chartered flight AI-549 is scheduled to take off at 10 am while the airlines' flight AI 429 is scheduled for arrival at Chennai Airport at 1.40 pm, they said.

The same flight AI 430 (AI 429 on return) will depart for New Delhi at 2.45 pm, they added.

A total 34 aircraft of various airlines were stranded at the airport when the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had decided to shut the airport till December 6 in the wake of battering rains that left the facility unusable.

The AAI had yesterday declared the runway fit for operating technical ferry and relief flights after an inspection by its staff.

A decision regarding full-fledged operations will soon be taken by the aviation regulator DGCA.

Four ferry flights that were parked at Chennai Airport departed for Delhi, Mumbai and Port Blair yesterday while one Cargo flight Singcargo B747 departed for Singapore via Bangalore.

On an average, Chennai airport handles 320 landings and departures. As many as 20 international airlines operates from the airport apart from most of the domestic carriers.

10 latest developments of Chennai floods:

1.     It has been raining intermittently in Chennai since Friday night. The Met department has predicted moderate rainfall for the day.
2.     A decision regarding round-the-clock operations will be taken by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India has said.
3.     The first flight to take off from the airport was a chartered plane. After that, an Air India flight with 150 passengers on board took off for Port Blair.
4.     As water receded and electricity returned in Chennai after days of torrential rain, focus has now shifted to making relief material available to all and preventing outbreak of diseases.
5.     Yesterday, the airport was opened for flights carrying relief supplies for the rain-hit state. The Airports Authority of India had declared the runway fit for operating technical ferry and relief flights after inspection by its staff.
6.     A total 34 aircraft of various airlines were stranded at the airport when the Airports Authority of India (AAI) decided to shut the airport till December 6 after incessant rain inundated the runway.
7.     On an average, Chennai airport handles 320 landings and take-offs in a day, including international flights.
8.     Many areas of the city, which is slowly limping back to normalcy after experiencing record rain, are still waterlogged. Relief efforts by the Army and the national and state disaster response forces are still continuing here.
9.     As water recedes and electricity returns to parts of Chennai, the biggest challenge for authorities is the mammoth task of cleaning up and preventing outbreak of diseases.
10.     Municipal workers have launched a huge cleaning operation all over Chennai, removing slush off streets and pouring bleaching powder in an effort to sanitise areas which have been under water after days of torrential rain.