Flight to bring stranded Odias from Kuala Lumpur rescheduled

BHUBANESWAR: In view of cyclone Amphan, the Air India special flight that was to bring stranded Odias from Kuala Lumpur to Bhubaneswar on Wednesday is rescheduled for Friday.
“We have the intimation that the special flight from Kuala Lumpur will not come as per schedule on Wednesday at 6.15pm. It will arrive here on Friday instead. However, there is no disruption to operational readiness of the airport due to the cyclone,” said airport director V V Rao.
Airport sources said although the wind speed (50kmph) in Bhubaneswar is not hindrance to landing of aircraft, it is for the airline to take a call whether to land or not.In case of inclement weather, the airlines suspend operations, reschedule or cancel flights.
The airport sources said the air traffic control (ATC) here has the schedule of Kuala Lumpur flights so that it can guide it to land. “Visibility shouldn’t be an issue as rain has receded,” an airport officer said.
The Kuala Lumpur flights will mostly bring the stranded tourists and businessmen, who got stuck due to sudden lockdown imposed on March 24. The ones from Dubai are plumbers and construction workers of Kendrapada and Ganjam districts of the state. A handful of them are from Bhubaneswar and two more districts.
The airport has shut operations since national lockdown on March 24. Barring the unscheduled flights and helicopters, which are operating from the state capital as part of relief work, cargo transportation and emergency service like carrying officials of the state government to different districts, no other flights are operating from here.