NEW DELHI: Cyclone Fani has caused “significant damage” to Bhubaneswar airport (BBI) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is trying to reopen it for flight movement at 1 pm (IST) on Saturday if the repair work gets completed. A decision on reopening Kolkata airport will be taken at 6 am on Saturday as wind speed is forecast to pick up after 9 pm on Friday.
Given the uncertainty, some airlines like IndiGo have cancelled all flights to and from BBI and Kolkata for Saturday. Air India has also cancelled or rescheduled some flights scheduled for Saturday from Kolkata, BBI, Ranchi, Guwahati, Tezpur and Silchar.
After doing a review of the damage caused by cyclone Fani, AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said: “None of the airports except BBI have been damaged. BBI has seen significant damage to terminal, boundary wall, air traffic control tower. Teams have been despatched with material and navigational aids that have been damaged.
