On Sunday, three international flights scheduled to land at Chennai Airport were diverted to Hyderabad due to reduced visibility caused by ‘Bhogi’ smoke.
The celebration of ‘Bhogi’ involves burning domestic waste as a tradition to welcome the harvest festival ‘Pongal.’ Both arrivals and departures were disrupted for approximately two hours in the morning. Despite the minimal impact on air traffic, airport authorities had previously urged residents near the airfield to refrain from burning waste to avoid smog affecting visibility and flight operations.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) commended Chennai Airport and Air Traffic Control (ATC) authorities for their proactive measures in addressing the smog situation.