The Calcutta airport was shut down around 4pm on Friday — more than five hours before the scheduled suspension of operations — following a warning from the meteorological department that Cyclone Fani could hit the city earlier than expected.
An advisory issued by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) at 11am on Friday stated that flight operations at Calcutta airport should remain suspended between 3pm on Friday and 8am on Saturday.
On Thursday, the DGCA had advised the airport to suspend operations between 9.30pm on Friday and 6pm on Saturday.
The airport authorities, however, allowed flights to operate till 4pm because the weather did not deteriorate. A Regent Airways flight for Dhaka was the last to take off, at 4.04pm.
