According to the airport authority, eight flights have been cancelled, while ten flights are operating with delays ranging from one hour to three hours at Chennai Airport on Wednesday due to smoke, haze, and fog.
Chennai: Flight operations hit due to Bhogi festival smoke, fog; 8 cancelled, 10 delayed. (IANS)
Tamil Nadu: Several flights have been cancelled or delayed at Chennai Airport on Wednesday due to smoke, haze, and fog. According to the airport authority, eight flights have been cancelled, while ten flights are operating with delays ranging from one hour to three hours at the airport.
The increased level of smoke in the city, causing disruptions to flight operations, is reportedly due to the Bhogi festival celebrations. The Bhogi festival, being celebrated today in the state of Tamil Nadu, involves burning old and discarded household items on the streets outside their homes in the early hours of the festival day.
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As part of Bhogi celebrations, several instances of burning of discarded materials are observed in localities near Chennai Airport, including Pammal, Anakaputhur, Meenambakkam, Gowl Bazaar, Pozhichalur, Manapakkam, Thoraipakkam, Nandambakkam, and other surrounding areas.
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Consequently, the runway area of Chennai Airport is covered by a blanket of thick smoke. Moreover, the early-morning fog of the winter season lowers visibility, disrupting flight operations at the airport.
Given the possibility of flight cancellations and delays during the early hours of the day, passengers were timely informed about these disruptions via text messages to avoid any inconvenience, as per the airport
authority and the concerned airlines.
At Chennai airport, four departing flights have been cancelled today: the flight to Pune scheduled at 3:05 AM, the flight to Coimbatore at 6:35 AM, the flight to Mumbai at 7:15 AM, and the flight to Delhi at 8:00 AM.
Also, four arriving flights have been cancelled today: the flight from Delhi scheduled to arrive at 5:20 AM, the flight from Mumbai at 6:35 AM, the flight from Pune at 7:10 AM, and the flight from Coimbatore at 9:10 AM.
The flight from Chennai to Vijayawada scheduled at 5:40 AM and the flight to Thoothukudi scheduled at 6:10 a.m. are departing after a delay of three hours.
In total, eight flights have been cancelled and ten flights have been delayed due to Bhogi-smoke.
Since the Bhogi festival is celebrated every year, disruptions to flight operations at Chennai Airport have been recurring around the festival days. However, as compared to previous years, flight operations have not been severely affected this time, as the level of smoke haze and fog at Chennai Airport is below the expected level, as of 7:00 AM today.
In 2018, total 118 flight services were cancelled or delayed due to smoke generated from Bhogi festival celebrations. In 2024, 27 arriving flights and 24 departing flights were affected.
Anticipating similar disruptions during the Bhogi festival in 2025, the Airports Authority of India took precautionary measures by rescheduling flights arriving at and departing from Chennai Airport between 4:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.
In 2025, 30 flights were affected due to Bhogi smoke and fog.
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