Heavy smog diverts four flights from BIA

7 January 2025 10:44 am Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 8 Bookmark

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By T.K.G Kapila

Colombo, January 7 (Daily Mirror)- Four passenger flights scheduled to land at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) were diverted to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in India this morning due to heavy smog reducing visibility.

The affected flights included SriLankan Airlines UL-226 from Dubai (5:00 a.m.),
SriLankan Airlines UL-881 from Guangzhou, China,
SriLankan Airlines UL-174 from Bangalore, India (5:05 a.m.) which were diverted to MRIA, while Turkish Airlines TK-730 from Istanbul, Turkey (6:00 a.m.) was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram.

The SriLankan aircraft diverted to MRIA were refueled without the passengers disembarking. By 7 a.m the smog around BIA had cleared and normal operations resumed. All diverted flights returned to the BIA by 9 a.m.

The BIA Duty Manager confirmed that flight schedules were back to normal after the smog dissipated.

Comments - 8

Coming colours no good Tuesday, 07 January 2025 12:00 PM

Lots of people have no idea what smog means. They think this is early morning mist. NO, it's toxic air coming from India. India is polluting the entire region beyond repair. The entire Pakistan is also covered in smog coming from India. Does anyone talk about it? Surprisingly, no.

3 18

FredSnR Tuesday, 07 January 2025 12:36 PM

Thanks for enlightening us.This is serious and should be looked into at the highest level if indeed this is the case. Imagine arriving in SL air space only to be told that the plane is being diverted to India because of Indian smog. Clean SL has a new role to play, how to clean the mess in the air before cleaning the mess on the ground. Contact the Indian HC, there could be other ugly side effects to our environment, the experts will know

3 5

LMAO Tuesday, 07 January 2025 10:22 PM

Best solution would be to build an impenetrable dome over Sri Lanka to keep out the smog, no?

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eshwar Tuesday, 07 January 2025 12:52 PM

So your definition of smog is "Toxic air coming form India" Do you have another name for toxic air that is coming form SL?

5 7

PG Tuesday, 07 January 2025 01:41 PM

This is now becoming a common habit. It's a long way for passengers to get back to Colombo plus they provide unroadworthy old Leyland busses to bring passengers back to Colombo.

1 6

Maldeniya Tuesday, 07 January 2025 03:38 PM

If it is thunderstorm, yes can understand, but is low visibility what happened to ILS? or is it to highlight our second airport and the name...

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GERIATRIC TAX PAYER Tuesday, 07 January 2025 07:28 PM

Lots of persons in Colombo are affected by respiratory diseases too during the last one and a half months...Allergic to toxic air???

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No one talks Wednesday, 08 January 2025 09:13 AM

Check air quality index online. You will get the answers. Usually, November December and January have beautiful blue skys and clear visibility. Even photographers prefer taking pictures during this time of the year. Sadly it's not the same anymore thanks to polluted air coming from India.

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