Guwahati, Mar16 : Flights from the city to Guwahati were stalled for eight hours on Sunday following a sandstorm in the Assam capital.
Seven flights from Calcutta were delayed and were cleared only around 3pm.
“Flights bound for Guwahati could not take off since 6.30am because of sandstorm-induced low visibility at Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport,” an official said. “Two passenger aircraft from Calcutta tried to land in Guwahati but could not and had to return. Flights resumed at 2pm, when the weather cleared.”
Officials said visibility at the Guwahati airport dipped to 900 metres during the sandstorm.
A Kingfisher flight was the last to land at Guwahati, at 6.20am, before the storm set in. “After that, conditions deteriorated rapidly making it impossible for flights to land or take off,” said an official.
After the Kingfisher flight departed for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, two more flights left for Guwahati. One was a JetLite flight that took off at 6am, while the other was an Alliance Air flight that left at 8.15am. Both had to return to Calcutta.
A Delhi-Guwahati IndiGo flight, too, was diverted to Calcutta.
An official said eight Calcutta-bound flights were stranded in Guwahati.
At Calcutta airport, around 500 passengers of the affected flights had to wait in the lounge of the domestic terminal.
Airline officials said the fliers realised that any attempt at landing in Guwahati in the midst of a sandstorm could be suicidal.
There were no reports of ticket cancellation.
The Met department at Guwahati airport has forecast that the “dry and windy” spell will end within a week and will be followed by rain.
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