Cyclone Fani: Suresh Prabhu asks airport authorities to stay alert; SOPs put in place

Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu Thursday said all concerned authorities have been alerted so that they are ready to deal with Cyclone Fani which is expected to hit Odisha coast on Friday. Other states on the eastern coast, such as West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, are also expected to be affected by the cyclone. In a tweet on Thursday morning, Prabhu tweeted that Airport Authority of India has issued an alert to all coastal airports and standard operating procedures have also been put in place. "Alerted all concerned to be ready to deal with Cyclone Fani. Airport Authority of India issued alert to all coastal airports to ensure all precautions, SOPs (standard operating procedures) put in place immediately," Prabhu tweeted.

The Airports Authority of India owns and manages over 100 airports across the country. Prabhu said that the situation will be monitored at highest level and "airlines and all others (are) to be fully ready." Many major airlines are expected to be affected due to the cyclone. On Thursday, IndiGo issued a travel advisory on Twitter and cancelled all flights to and from Visakhapatnam. "Due to Cyclone Fani, flights to and from Visakhapatnam have been cancelled for today (May 2, 2019)," the tweet from Vistara read. 

The low-cost carrier, which has around 44 per cent of domestic passenger market share, also advised passengers to go to one of its website links "to opt for alternate options or get a refund".

Vistara airline also issued a travel update on Twitter. It said as Fani is likely to impact Bhubaneswar and Kolkata on May 2 and May 3, it is waiving "change and cancellation fee" for flights that will depart or arrive from these two cities between May 2 and May 5. "Fare difference if any, will be applicable for date changes," the full-service carrier said. Vistara has around four per cent of domestic passenger market share. 

Meanwhile, the Indian Railways said that around 89 trains have been cancelled in the last two days. The trains which have been cancelled include Howrah-Chennai Central Coromandal Express, Patna-Eranakulam Express, New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express, Bhubaneswar-Rameswaram Express. The New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, New Delhi-Puri Nandan Kanan Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express and the New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express which had to begin their journeys Thursday have also been cancelled.

So far, the national transporter has announced three tourist special trains to ferry passengers from affected areas.

Fani lays centred over West Central Bay of Bengal, about 430 km south-southwest of Puri in Odisha, 225 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 650 km south-southwest of Digha in West Bengal, as per the latest bulletin of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).