UAE flights affected as Kochi airport closes operations till August 11
UAE: The closure of Cochin International Airport till Friday morning due to rain has affected expats from the UAE who had booked tickets for the long weekend.
On Thursday night, the airport announced that it will suspend services till midnight and then extended the suspension till Sunday. Many flights from the UAE were affected by the unexpected closure. Major airlines announced that the flights to and from Kochi would be diverted or cancelled.
Incessant rain on Thursday led to temporary shutdown of the airport. The closure, as part of precautionary measure, was first announced till midnight. Later, the airport announced the closure would be extended till 9am as the apron area was waterlogged. All the flights to airport were either cancelled or diverted from 9pm (IST) onwards. A Dubai-Kochi flight was diverted to Trivandrum International Airport while Kochi-Abu Dhabi flight that was supposed to fly in the morning got cancelled.
“Cochin International Airport has shut operations as water has entered taxiway. A flight from Kochi is yet to arrive here in Abu Dhabi. This will affect the returning flight. Many passengers would have already checked-in at Abu Dhabi International Airport. We are trying our best to manage the situation,” an Air India official from Abu Dhabi said.
From Dubai, flydubai (FZ 441), Emirates (EK 532), SpiceJet, Indigo (6E 068) were cancelled while Etihad flight (EY 280) from Abu Dhabi and Air Arabia and Air India (IX 412) flights from Sharjah were cancelled.
