Raipur: Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur had to cancel many of its flights, especially on Monday evening, as there were some technical problems in the ATS tower, and the runway was also being repaired. Carrying out a repair on the runway interfered with the landing of aircraft between 7 in the evening and 10 at night; therefore, it affected many passengers. The worst hit flight was Indigo 6E2274 Delhi to Agatti, which was finally called off after the flight was delayed for four hours, and the passengers were frustrated and disappointed.
During the closure of the runway, many flights were forced to make diversions. A flight from Bengaluru to Raipur was diverted to Kolkata, making the passengers spend two more hours in the skies. This flight is now expected to land in Raipur on Saturday at 7 in the morning. Two Delhi-bound flights had to land in Bhubaneswar, and two Mumbai bound had to land in Nagpur. One more flight of Indigo from Delhi, which was supposed to land at 11 PM, was completely cancelled.
The disturbances were compounded with a thick fog that prostrated Delhi making it cumbersome for flights leaving the capital city. Two flights between Delhi and Raipur and one between Lucknow and Raipur took off late, and travellers were badly off in the process. A Delhi-Raipur flight that was originally scheduled to land at 8:45 PM was delayed and it only resumed only at 9:45 PM.
However, there was some pleasing development on the Hyderabad-Raipur route, wherein two new flights were launched during the month. But due to some technical issues, closure of the runway for repair and some other inconveniences, this calendar year has proven to be unlucky for air travellers whereby through a chain effect of delayed and cancelled flights, many passengers had to spend extra time at the terminal without their flights.
The management of the airport is also keen on responding to the challenges with an aim of destabilizing normal functioning. People have been urged to follow the status of the flights and keep preparing for the worst, especially in terms of a flight delay.
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