Passengers ‘stranded’ for hours protest at Bhubaneswar airport after diversion of flights

On Sunday, a group of passengers protested outside Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, claiming they were left stranded for hours after several Kolkata-bound flights were diverted due to bad weather. The passengers reported that, despite the long wait, many of them, including children, were not provided food or water after landing.

One student shared that she missed an important exam because her flight was redirected to Bhubaneswar. “I’ve been stranded for over eight hours at the airport, and I had to miss my examination because of this,” she said.

Bhubaneswar airport director, Prasanna Pradhan, explained that between 10 pm on Saturday and 1:15 am on Sunday, eight flights heading to Kolkata were diverted to Bhubaneswar. Of these, six were cleared to return to Kolkata after a brief stop.

However, two SpiceJet flights remained grounded because Bhubaneswar is a “non-operational airport” for the airline. Pradhan noted that due to pilot duty time limitations and aircraft checks, these flights had to stay at the airport. The airline arranged buses and hotel accommodations for the stranded passengers, although some chose not to go to the hotels. Pradhan also mentioned that refreshments were provided to the passengers while they waited, and two flights were scheduled to depart for Kolkata later.

IMD weather update

As per IMD, due to the heavy rainfall in certain parts of Odisha, there is some relaxation from the heatwave. IMD scientist Sanjeev Dwivedi says, “Yesterday, we had scattered rainfall distribution and two places received heavy rainfall. 78 cm of rainfall was recorded in Kalahandi district, which was the highest. And the maximum temperature was recorded in Jharsuguda – 44.7 degrees Celsius. Today, we have a high level of clouds due to which there is no rise in temperature over Odisha region. So, we have got a relaxation from heatwave.”