Cyclone Vayu update: flight operations suspended at 5 airports in Gujarat

With Cyclone Vayu hitting Gujarat hard, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has announced that flight operations at five airports in Gujarat will remain suspended for 24 hours. This action was brought into effect from midnight on Wednesday to ensure damage to airport infrastructure is minimised, and that passengers don’t have to face any inconvenience.

As Cyclone Vayu progressed toward the coastal areas of Gujarat, the state government launched a massive evacuation plan, thereby shifting around three lakh from low-lying areas of Kutch and Saurashtra regions.
AAI issued a statement stating that the Regional Executive Director (Western Region), AAI and all airports in Gujarat have been advised to be ready to handle any exigency occurring out of this natural calamity and issue appropriate NOTAM (notice to airmen) action.
The AAI also said that equipment and heavy machinery has been removed to safety at respective airports and the airport directors of AAI’s Bhuj and Jamnagar Airports have been asked to write to the Indian Air Force to suspend operations of civil flights from these two airports also.
The AAI will be taking a decision with respect to suspending operations at AAI’s Surat Airport after analysing the weather.

Also, if reports are to go by, the Indian Met department has further predicted very heavy rain falls in areas, such as Bhavnagar, Saurashtra, Valsad, Gir Somnath, Dadra Nagar Haveli, and Junagadh.