Cyclone Michaung: 550 IndiGo flights cancelled

Chennai: Over a thousand flights connecting Chennai were cancelled since yesterday (Dec 5) after heavy rain due to Cyclone Michaung forced shut the city airport. IndiGo had to cancel 550 flights across India after the airport closed operations  while Vistara suspended 10 flights from Chennai.

The rain has stopped and Chennai now struggles to drain the floodwaters and assess the damages caused due to the heavy rain.

Chennai airport had shut its runway and grounded all planes  after floodwater entered the airport. It resumed operations this morning. Currently, Visakhapatnam airport is shut as the cyclone has moved towards Andhra Pradesh.

IndiGo resumed its flights from Chennai around noon, but said it cancelled 60 flights . Vistara too has resumed operations to and from Chennai.

The affected flyers will be offered a waiver on cancellation and rescheduling of flights, IndiGo, which has surpassed the milestone of flying 2,000 daily scheduled flights, had said . Currently, it has 15 planes parked in Chennai - the ones that were grounded after the airport was shut .

Vistara said it has reached out to the affected flyers and offered alternatives.

"The team made all efforts to minimize inconvenience to customers including proactively cancelling select flights and has been in constant touch with the impacted customers to offer regular updates and various alternatives such as rescheduling or refunds, as applicable," said a Vistara spokesperson.

Air India, which had cancelled 33 return flights across the country during Chennai airport closure, has waived rescheduling charges for yesterday and today's flights. It also cancelled 20 return flights.

Cyclone Michaung unleashed heavy torrential rain in Chennai since Sunday night, submerging the city. Besides flights, dozens of trains were also cancelled and the passengers were promised a full refund.

The cyclone has begun the landfall process near Bapatla on the Andhra Pradesh coast.

• -B