UAE-India Flights Delayed, Cancelled to Chennai Due to Festival Smoke

Flights both to and out of Chennai International Airport were badly affected due to heavy smoke originating from burning of old clothes and tyres during Bhogi festival on the eve of Pongal, a Tamil Nadu harvest festival. The resulting smoke had poor visibility at the airport, and subsequently, flight schedule changes were executed.

Total flights, including from and to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, were affected to the extent of 30. Etihad Airways flight EY346 was rescheduled to 3:00 pm after having been originally scheduled to take off at 2:45 pm. The Emirates flight EK544 was initially scheduled to depart at 3:50 am and left at 4:19 am. Some of the flights were to other cities such as Doha, Muscat, Kuwait, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and many other cities in India such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Andaman, Goa, Pune, and Kolkata.

Besides international flights, some domestic flights were cancelled including three Indigo flights from Delhi and Bengaluru, due to the reduced visibility in the early hours of Monday.

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The smoke, coming from the burning of old clothes, tyres, and other items as part of the Bhogi festival, covered the entire Chennai area, including the airport, making it hard for pilots to see clearly. In a social media post, Chennai International Airport appealed to the public not to burn waste materials in public areas to avoid further disruptions. The post reminded people that such actions had caused major disruptions in the past, like in 2018, when 73 departures and 45 arrivals were delayed.

The airport said this year, with a heightened awareness by the public, only 51 flights (27 arrivals and 24 departures) were affected. However, to avoid more problems in the coming days, the airport asked people around the airport not to burn tyres and plastics, as this would reduce the visibility and hassle for many passengers.

Airport officials are carefully monitoring the situation and are prepared to divert incoming flights to other airports if smoke worsens. IndiGo, one of the largest airlines in India, has also informed its passengers that there will be flight schedule changes due to the foggy weather expected for the next couple of days over Chennai and adjacent areas like Tiruchirapalli and Tirupati.

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