Rain, winds disrupt 15 flights to and from Chennai airport by nearly an hour

Chennai: Rain and winds disrupted a total of 15 flight operations at Chennai airport on Saturday. Aircraft from Sri Lanka, Abu Dhabi, Dhaka and others on the domestic legs hovered in the sky for nearly an hour before making the final landing.An Indigo aircraft from Jaffna, which was supposed to land in the city at 12.44pm, hovered around for nearly an hour, and finally landed at 1.40pm, delaying its next leg to Trichy by 40 minutes. Airport sources said the delays were also due to the closure of the main runway for maintenance, which was made worse by the rain. "As departures were handled from the second runway, some aircraft had to wait to land," sources said. Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight, scheduled to land here at 1.30pm, was delayed by an hour as the aircraft overshot the runway and had to take off again. The flight landed at 2.27pm after making multiple rounds in the sky. Flights from Abu Dhabi, Andaman, Mumbai and Bengaluru also had to make slight detours. Similarly, flights to Kannur, Salem, Tuticorin, Ahmedabad and Delhi were delayed.