Flight operations to remain suspended from May 3 to 6 at Kolkata Airport

Kolkata: To combat the emergency situation which is expected in two days due to cyclone Fani, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport authorities held a high level meeting on Thursday. Former director of Alipore weather office G C Debnath was present at the meeting.

According to sources, on Thursday NSCBI authorities held a meeting with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Debnath to chalk out a plan to tackle the fallout of the impending cyclone.

Airport director Kaushik Bhattacharya stated that the airport authorities are prepared from all aspects to handle any emergency. As Fani is likely to affect a major part of the state such East and West Midnapore, South and North 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Jhargram and Kolkata, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to suspend all flight operations from NSCBI Airport between 9.30 pm on May 3 and 6 pm on May 4.

Union minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu requested all the airlines to help in rescue and relief operation in the view of the cyclone. Airlines have been requested to airlift relief material and deliver them to officially designated agencies.

Airlines such as GoAir, IndiGo and Vistara among others suspended all flights from Bhubaneswar. The airlines are also waiving off cancellation charges and rescheduling charges for flights booked to and from Bhubaneswar and Kolkata.

Meanwhile, the Cricket Association of Bengal on Thursday postponed all the local matches till Monday, following the cyclone alert. "This is to inform all concerned that cricket matches of this association scheduled to be held from May 3-6, 2019, are hereby postponed owing to cyclonic storm Fani, as forecasted by the Meteorological department, Kolkata. The revised dates of such postponed matches would be intimated in due course," a statement from the CAB read.