Cyclone Ditwah impact: 5 Colombo-bound flights diverted to Thiruvananthapuram airport due to bad weather; more diversions expected | Thiruvananthapuram News

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Five flights bound for Sri Lanka—three from the Middle East and one each from Malaysia and India—were diverted to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on Friday due to bad weather over Colombo, TIAL said.Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd (TIAL) added that more flights may be diverted in view of a cyclone warning over Colombo.The diverted flights included two SriLankan Airlines flights, one from Dubai and another from Doha, an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi, an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur, and an Indigo flight from Mumbai to Colombo.The Etihad flight landed at 3:44 am, the AirAsia flight at 4:37 am, and the SriLankan Airlines flights at 7:44am and 7:55 am. The Indigo flight touched down at 9:49 am.A TIAL official said the flights remain at Thiruvananthapuram due to continuing adverse weather conditions in Colombo.The cyclonic storm “Ditwah” is currently located over the Southwest Bay of Bengal, close to the Sri Lankan coast. At present, the system is centred 80 km from Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 480 km from Puducherry, and 580 km from Chennai.Earlier, an Air India flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad on November 27 returned to Delhi shortly after take-off after the cockpit received a smoke warning from the aircraft’s cargo hold, prompting the crew to follow precautionary safety procedures, the airline said on Thursday.According to an Air India official, the crew of flight AI2939 immediately turned back to Delhi in line with standard operating protocols after the alert appeared on the cockpit systems.“The crew operating flight AI2939 from Delhi to Ahmedabad on 27 November decided to return to Delhi shortly after take-off due to a smoke indication in the cargo hold area, which was later found to be false after the aircraft underwent thorough precautionary checks,” the official said.An Air India official said the aircraft landed safely and that all passengers and crew were disembarked without incident.‘Following standard operating procedure, the aircraft landed in Delhi, and the passengers and crew were disembarked safely. Our ground team at Delhi had provided immediate assistance to the passengers, and alternative arrangements were made to fly them to their destination at the earliest,” the airline added.(With agency inputs)