Flight operations resume at Bagdogra International Airport after 5.5 hours, here's why

21 flights were cancelled and flight operations were halted at Bagdogra International Airport (IXB) in West Bengal on March 22 due to a crack reported on the runway. Passengers had to wait hours to board their flights.

"I got a call from our Air Traffic Control (ATC) around 11.50 am that there is this runway issue. Seven flights landed in the morning and five took off. So, the morning operation was okay. Due to this runway issue, 21 flights were cancelled. Flights will operate normally tomorrow, Bagdogra Airport Director, P Subramani said.  

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) said the operation of Bagdogra International Airport were suspended due to resurfacing work on the final layer of the runway. 

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Bagdogra airport witnesses around 20-30 take offs and landings on a daily basis. The damage at the runway caused inconvenience to around 7,000 passengers at the airport. Seven flights that were already airborne were diverted to nearby airports of Kolkata (CCU) and Guwahati (GAU). Flight operations were severely disrupted due to the runway closure at 11:50am on March 22. Only seven flights could land, and five took off from the airport before operations were suspended until 5:15pm.

The number of arriving passengers stood at 982, while 950 passengers used the airport to board. Due to the disruption at airport, yesterday’s figures were significantly lower than average. For instance, arrivals and departures stood at 31 each for March 21st. Similarly, 3826 passengers arrived at IXB, and just over 5000 departed.

Bagdogra International Airport had to undergo scheduled runway maintenance since long. "Minor repair work was ongoing for approximately two years now, but the authorities needed to shut the runway for at least a fortnight in order to finish the upgrades," said sources. The airport is scheduled to stay shut from April 11th to 25th, 2022.

(With inputs from agencies)

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