Cyclone Nisarga: IndiGo, Vistara cancel Mumbai flights on Wednesday

Airlines are cancelling flights to Mumbai scheduled for Wednesday and taking steps to protect their planes and ground equipment as the city braces for its first cyclone in over a hundred years.
 

IndiGo has cancelled 17 flights to and from Mumbai on Wednesday and will operate only three flights from Mumbai ( Chandigarh, Ranchi and Patna).
 

"All the passengers of the affected domestic flights are being notified, " IndiGo said and added that impacted passengers were being given an option of  re-booking on alternate flight starting next day or to protect PNR as credit account.
 

Vistara has cancelled four flights including its departures to Delhi and Kolkata tomorrow. Air India  is rescheduling it's morning flights.
 

Domestic airlines are operating 50 flights to and from Mumbai ( 25 arrivals and departures each) as a part of curtailed schedule upon resumption of domestic flights from May 25.

A  meeting was held at Mumbai airport on Tuesday to review measures and take precautions to secure aircraft and equipment and safeguard installation at the airport.
 

Accordingly, small planes were moved to hangars. A few of the smaller planes were flown out to other cities as a precautionary measure. Parking arrangement of planes on the apron too, is being changed to increase spacing between them. Ground support equipment and containers are also being secured so that those do not get blown away due to strong gusts.
 

Cyclone Nisarga is expected to pass through districts in North Maharashtra and South Gujarat on Wednesday afternoon with windspeed of 100-120 kilometres per hour.
 

A Mumbai airport spokesperson said the airport  has undertaken various measures to safeguard the passengers and airlines at the airport. "Preventive checks at different airport functions have been carried out and the airport has ensured that DG sets are in place to provide uninterrupted power supply. Water pumps have been positioned across the airport to clear water in case of waterlogging," MIAL said.