Kochi airport shut 2 hours, eyes on dam

Kochi: Cochin airport was on Thursday partially closed for two hours due to the intrusion of flood waters from Chengal canal, a tributary of Periyar bordering the airport, forcing three flights to divert.

The airport authorities said its operations would be affected if the Periyar water level increased substantially following the opening of the Cheruthoni dam.

They said in a release that they suspended operations as part of precautionary measures in the light of the opening of the shutters of the Idamalayar dam.

The flood waters entered the drainage near the operations side and spread to the parking bay.

Following this, the landing stopped at 1.05 pm. The Indigo flight from Mumbai was diverted to Coimbatore, and a Spice Jet flight returned to Bangalore. An Oman Air flight from Muscat was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram.

Of these, the Oman flight later landed in Kochi.

However, a passenger who arrived at the airport in the afternoon to go to Chennai by an evening Spicejet flight said that he had to take the road route after the airline staff informed him that no plane was taking off and landing at the airport.

He also said that several passengers were seen stranded at the airport at that time.

The airport authorities said that they had opened a control room for giving information to the passengers at that time.

The release said that the decision to resume full-fledged operations was taken after the rate of increase in flood waters came down around 2.30 pm.

The operations turned normal at 3.05 pm, and the situation was under control by the evening.

However, they added that the airport operations would be affected if the Periyar water level increased substantially following the opening of the shutters of the Cheruthoni dam.