Flight operations at 5 Gujarat airports to be suspended

The Airports Authority of India on Wednesday announced that flight operations will remain suspended at five airports in Gujarat for 24 hours from midnight Wednesday in order to minimise the damage to airport infrastructure and to avoid inconvenience to passengers due to Cyclone Vayu.

As cyclone 'Vayu' advances towards the Gujarat coast, the state government launched a massive evacuation exercise to shift about three lakh people from low-lying areas of Saurashtra and Kutch regions, officials said.

Flight operations will remain suspended in Porbandar, Diu, Bhavnagar, Keshod and Kandla airports, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said.

"Equipment and heavy machinery have been moved to safety at respective airports and the Airport Directors of AAI's Bhuj and Jamnagar airports have been asked to write to the Indian Air Force to suspend operations of civil flights from these two airports also," the AAI said in a statement.

The AAI owns and manages around 100 airports across the country.

The AAI said that "a decision in respect of suspending operations at AAI's Surat Airport will be taken after analysing the weather".

"Keeping safety in mind and in order to minimise damage to the airport infrastructure and to avoid inconvenience to any of stakeholders including passengers, the AAI has decided to suspend flight operations at AAI airports in Porbandar, Diu, Bhavnagar, Keshod and Kandla from 12 midnight IST today (12/06/2019) to 12 midnight IST tomorrow (13/06/2019)," the AAI added.

The Regional Executive Director (Western Region), the AAI and all Airport Directors in Gujarat have been advised to be in readiness to handle any exigency occurring out of this natural calamity and to issue appropriate NOTAM (notice to airmen) action, the AAI said.