Heavy rain disrupts 25 flights at Patna airport

Patna: Incessant rain, gusty winds, and lightning affected flight operations at Jayprakash Narayan International Airport in the state capital on Monday, delaying several flights and diversion of a Delhi-Patna IndiGo plane.Airport officials said due to the bad weather conditions in Patna, the pilot was forced to fly the incoming flight (6E-2769) from Delhi to the nearest airport. After making two go-arounds, the flight, which took off from Delhi at 8.10am, was re-routed to Ayodhya, where it landed at 9.50am. It again took off at 11.39am from Ayodhya and landed in Patna at 12.23pm.As many as six incoming flights and 19 departures were affected due to the inclement weather, officials said. Amid this, many flyers faced inconvenience over the delays and took to X to share their frustration. A flyer, Anurag Sinha, said: "It's raining heavily since last night and still in the morning around 9.40am, Indigo (6E-2769) Delhi to Patna flight tried landing at Patna airport, it nearly touched down the runway and then had to take off. Took a circle, came back again, but could not land. Finally, it was diverted to UP."In a statement issued on Monday, the airlines said: "We regret the discomfort to flyers. It is never our intent to disrupt the travel plans of our flyers. However, the flight is affected due to bad weather in Patna, which is beyond our control."Sadhna Kumari, who was flying to Delhi from Patna, said, "My flight SG-2478 was scheduled for departure at 9.30pm, but now it is showing that it will take off at 1am on Tuesday. However, there is no assurance from the airlines yet. The flight could be further delayed if it rains again."