Chennai: Over 30 flights from Chennai airport, both departure and arrival, have been rescheduled due to pollution caused by burning of plastic waste and tyres on the city's streets on Bhogi festival on Monday. This apart, due to the smog in the city, three flights scheduled to arrive in Chennai from Delhi and Bengaluru have been cancelled, said airport officials.
In residential areas around Chennai airport including Meenambakkam, Kaulbazar, Pozhichalur, Pammal, Anakaputhur, Tarapakkam, and Manapakkam, burning of old plastic waste and tyres on the streets on Bhogi festival, resulted in heavy smog which spread to the runway of the airport. A thick layer of smoke in the air has reduced visibility at the airport.
Flight services getting affected on the festival is a regular practice in the city. In 2018, 73 departure and 45 arrival flights were affected by the Bhogi festival smog at Chennai Airport. However, since then, the impact on flight services has been gradually decreasing every year. In 2024, due to the Bhogi festival smoke and fog, 27 arrivals and 24 departures were affected at the airport.
The Airports Authority of India rescheduled the timings of flights arriving in Chennai and departing from here this morning.
Details of rescheduled and cancelled flights
The timings of more than 30 flights from Chennai to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Port Blair, Goa, Pune, Kolkata, etc were rescheduled this morning and information has been sent to passengers through SMS.
In addition, three IndiGo Airlines flights from Delhi and Bengaluru to Chennai were cancelled on the day. Chennai Airport Control Room officials are continuously monitoring the situation. If the smoke and fog increase further, flights arriving in Chennai may be diverted to other airports. As per reports, till 6 am on Monday, there has been no major impact on flight operations at Chennai Airport.
A few days back, in a bid to reduce air pollution during Bhogi festival, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had called on people to celebrate the event in an environmentally friendly manner, free of harmful emissions.
