A Kingfisher flight to Port Blair with 49 passengers was brought back to Chennai after it flew 70 miles on Monday morning, as the pilot was told that the runway at the destination was unusable after rains.
The Kingfisher Red flight took off at 5 am reportedly came back after an hour’s journey as the pilot was told that the runway in Port Blair was flooded and no landing was possible. The passengers who were disembarked from the flight were irked after they heard rumours of an Air India flight taking off to Port Blair. “Some of the passengers heard that an Air India flight had gone to the same destination and that is why they were irritated about their cancellations.
They are however flying on Tuesday morning on a special flight,” an airport official told Express.
The Port Blair airport go under such contingencies very often during the monsoon, say experts. “Rains flood the runway during monsoons and many such last minute cancellations occur,” says an airport official not willing to be identified.
Apart from this the Port Blair runway is also smaller in its length and no landing is generally possible there after 11am as the wind speed can affect the landing. “The runway is smaller so it leads to displaced threshold whereby a pilot can’t make a long landing” according to an operations expert.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Kingfisher has not posted a qualified dispatcher in Chennai, a gross violation of the Civil Aviation requirement set by the DGCA. Pilots get their briefings and flight information through a Bangalore dispatch office or an Operations staff who has no clue of the role he plays.
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