Monsoon-season downpours returned with a vengeance to eastern India on 26 September, disrupting operations at Patna’s Jayprakash Narayan International Airport. According to airport officials quoted by the Times of India, four flights—including IndiGo 6E-713 (Kolkata-Patna) and Air India Express IX-1510 (Delhi-Patna)—were diverted to Kolkata and Varanasi after multiple aborted landing attempts. Twenty-six other services suffered delays exceeding an hour, and one departure was cancelled altogether. The weather system, combining persistent rain with gusts over 40 km/h, reduced runway visibility and triggered ATC ground-stacking. Airlines scrambled to reassign crew and aircraft, leading to cascading knock-on delays for subsequent legs, including onward flights to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ranchi. For time-sensitive business travellers the disruption highlights the vulnerability of tier-2 city airports, where limited apron space and single-runway configurations leave little slack. Companies with personnel shuttling between manufacturing hubs in Bihar and corporate centres further west are re-evaluating contingency options such as routing through Lucknow or allocating buffer days in project schedules. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has requested a post-incident report from the airport operator and reminded carriers of mandatory weather-related passenger-care obligations under India’s Civil Aviation Requirements (Section 3, Series M, Part IV). With IMD forecasting further intense rainfall in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar through 29 September, travellers should monitor SMS push alerts from airlines and consider evening departures where weather windows may be more stable.
Source: The Times of India
