Emirates flight diverted to Chennai due to bad weather in Kolkata

CHENNAI: An Emirates flight travelling from Dubai to Kolkata, carrying 274 passengers, was unable to land in Kolkata due to severe weather conditions and was diverted to Chennai on Thursday.

The flight, which left Dubai this morning, encountered bad weather with heavy fog in Kolkata.

As a result, air traffic control authorities decided to reroute the flight to Chennai.

The Emirates flight safely landed at Chennai International Airport at 10 am today, according to reports.

All 274 passengers were kept on board the aircraft during the diversion.

The airline provided refreshments to the passengers while they remained seated.

It has been announced that the flight will depart from Chennai for Kolkata after the weather condition improves in Kolkata.

"Flight operations were affected between 5 am and 10 am. Visibility began improving after 9 am and things were normal around 10 am," an AAI spokesperson at the airport said.

Passengers faced significant inconveniences as many early morning flights were delayed.

"Once morning flights are delayed due to fog, the entire schedule of airlines is disrupted, leading to a cascading effect throughout the day," an official said.

Despite being equipped with the CAT III-B instrument landing system (ILS), which allows operations in visibility as low as 50 meters, the fog reduced visibility below the permissible range.

Low Visibility Procedures (LVP) were also implemented, an official added.

"The Air Traffic Control (ATC) implements LVP when visibility drops below 800 metres, guiding aircraft to their stands using ‘Follow-Me' vehicles. LVP is also triggered when the cloud ceiling is below 200 feet," the official said.

(With inputs from PTI)