Cyclone Remal: Kolkata airport to close international and domestic flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon

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Flight operations at Kolkata Airport will be suspended for 21 hours starting from Sunday noon in view of the possible impact of cyclone Remal, reported PTI citing officials.

A total of 394 flights, arrival and departure, in both international and domestic sectors would not operate to and fro the airport during the flight suspension period, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) spokesperson told PTI.

The precautionary measure was taken after a meeting of the stakeholders of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport on Saturday, the official said, reporte PTI.

This was done during the meeting as per the Met department report. It said that heavy wind with speeds more than 50 to 60 knots and gusting up to 70 knots. One knot is equivalent to 1.852 km per hour.

"In view of cyclone Remal's impact on the coastal region of West Bengal, including Kolkata, a meeting was held with the stakeholders and it has been decided to suspend flight operations from 1200 IST on May 26 to 0900 IST on May 27 due to predicted heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Kolkata," NSCBI Airport Director C Pattabhi said in a statement.

With a wind speed of 110-120 km per hour, gusting to 135 kmph, the cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall on May 26 at midnight along the adjoining coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh.

The IMD has warned of extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal and north Odisha on May 26-27.

A storm surge of up to 1.5 metres is expected to inundate low-lying areas of coastal West Bengal and Bangladesh at the time of landfall.

A meeting was convened by the Kolkata airport director on Friday also with all the stakeholders including AAI, Met department, air traffic control (ATC), communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) and others in view of the cyclone.

According to a top AAI official, this is perhaps the first time that the weather conditions en route both for aircraft and passengers have been considered so that fliers could get proper time to reach their respective destinations after landing here.

"Similarly, no flights will come or depart from Kolkata after 12 noon on Sunday and it is well ahead of the cyclone's landfall time. So no aircraft, departing and arriving, would encounter very bad weather en route," the official explained.

Other standard safety-related procedures such as lowering high mast lights, putting away all equipment at safer places and shifting vehicles inside hangers - are being carried out, said the PTI report.

Besides, mooring of smaller aircraft will have to be completed also, the official said.