PANAJI: A combination of heavy rainfall and low-lying clouds brought flight operations at Goa International Airport to a standstill on Wednesday. More than 30 flights were either delayed, diverted or cancelled, as Airports Authority of India (AAI) struggled to handle the chaos created by the bad weather.“Flight operations at Goa airport were affected due to bad weather,” said airport director Bhupesh Negi. “Around 16 arriving flights could not land due to low-lying clouds in the approach area. Most of the flights were consequently delayed.”Struggling to accommodate passengers and coordinate flight movement, airlines and AAI officials sent SMSes asking passengers to check their flight status.Most parts of Goa recived very heavy rainfall all day, along with strong gusts of wind. Visibility, too, was poor, and hampered flight operations. AAI officials said that at least five flights were diverted and more than 16 diverted.Weather conditions improved only at 5.30pm, after which diverted flights were allowed to return to the Dabolim-based airfield.Some flights were delayed by as many as four hours, prompting passengers to seek refunds from airlines. Sources told TOI that several airlines offered to reschedule tickets for the next day or accommodate passengers on other flights.The weather, which played truant all day, resulted in over a thousand passengers stranded at Goa International Airport, Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, and Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport.

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