Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s flight enroute from New Delhi was diverted to Kolkata due to bad weather in Bhubaneswar district on Friday morning, September 5. Majhi was on board AI-473 and was scheduled to land at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) at around 9.40 am.
However, the pilot aborted the landing due to poor visibility after reaching near the runway due to the heavy rains. According to BPIA officials, the pilots kept circling in a holding pattern to see if weather conditions would improve.
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As the heavy downpour continued, the flight was diverted to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata at about 1011 am. "“The CM had boarded Air India flight (AI 473), which took off from Kolkata airport and was scheduled to land at Bhubaneswar airport at 1:00 pm,” Airport Director Pradhan added," said BPIA Director, Prasanna Pradhan.