Bengaluru rains hamper air traffic; flights diverted to Chennai due to adverse weather

Heavy rains in Bengaluru affected air traffic on Friday evening, causing at least four incoming flights to divert to Chennai due to low visibility and bad landing conditions at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). According to The Indian Express, between 6:25 and 7:10 p.m., Chennai International Airport served as an unplanned hub, housing three domestic passenger flights and one international cargo aircraft heading for Bengaluru.

Flights affected included IndiGo's 6E6014 from Dehradun, 6E6508 from Rajkot's Hirasar Airport, and Air India Express' IX2747 from Bagdogra. All three landed safely in Chennai within 45 minutes. Also diverted was a Boeing 777 freighter operated by German cargo airline AeroLogic. The long-haul flight 3S0533 had taken off from Hong Kong and was supposed to land in Bengaluru, but it had to reroute and land in Chennai at 7:10 p.m.

It was later parked in a stand reserved for wide-body aircraft. The detours reflect the extreme weather that Bengaluru has been experiencing for the past 48 hours. Several areas of the city had saturated roadways and flash flooding, affecting both ground transportation and aviation.