Guwahati, May 25
All outbound flights from Guwahati were cancelled in the wake of the cyclonic storm ‘Aila’ that hit Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal this afternoon. As many as six Kolkata-bound flights from different parts of the country were diverted to airports at Guwahati and Bagdogra in North Bengal.
Director of Guwahati airport RK Singh informed that six flights --- Indian Airlines Flight 244 (Agartala-Kolkata), Indigo flight 351 (Hyderabad -Kolkata), Spice Jet flight 208 (Delhi-Kolkata), Indigo flight 321 (Mumbai-Kolkata), Jet Airways flight 922 (Delhi-Kolkata) and Indian Airlines flight 230 (Guwahati-Kolkata) --- were diverted to Guwahati airport. He further informed that two flights of Jet Airways (201) and Indigo (207) were also not allowed to embark on their journey from Guwahati to Kolkata.
“The stranded flights will be allowed to leave Guwahati airport only when the weather conditions improve,” the official said. Some of the passengers are still stuck inside the stranded aircrafts, while others have opted to wait inside the airport terminal.
Meanwhile, the Met Office here has sounded alert for the entire Northeast region. The weathermen here have warned of squally gusty winds and heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours. The cyclonic storm is likely to move in the northerly direction and weaken gradually. Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall has also been predicted in Meghalaya and most parts of Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram, and in many parts of Arunachal Pradesh.
