Chennai, Dec 8 (UNI) As the Deep Depression intensified into Cyclonic Storm
'Mandous', a meeting of Airport Authority of India (AAI) and various stakeholders
was held at the Chennai International Airport today to discuss the preparedness
following alert issued by the Indian Meteorological department (IMD).
Dr. V.R Durai, Director-IMD, Chennai Airport briefed the possible impact owing
to the cyclonic storm that is likely to prevail over Chennai for the next two days.
As per IMD forecasts, heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely
heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely over north coastal Tamil Nadu,
Puducherry and adjoining south Coastal Andhra Pradesh and isolated heavy to
very heavy rainfall is likely to occur over north interior Tamil Nadu and adjoining
Rayalaseema from tomorrow.
Dr. Sharad Kumar, Airport Director said all the teams are kept on standby and
the contingency plan would be activated as the situation unfolds. The airport
team is ready for any emergency situation.
He also specifically emphasised on proper mooring of smaller aircraft and
securing Ground Handling equipment so that they do not move in heavy
winds or inclement weather, AAI sources said.
Briefing the stakeholders, S.S Raju, General Manager (Operations) said in
the event of operations being suspended on account of heavy cross wind
conditions non-scheduled operators will be asked to explore the possibility
of re-locating their aircrafts to a safer place outside the Chennai Airport as
a precautionary measure.
He said the in-house departments of AAI have clearly defined SOPs which
will be activated and monitored.
It was also decided to ensure stacking of adequate quantity of Food and
Beverage items in Airport Food Courts in case of an emergency.
Representatives from Airlines, GHAs, IMD, ATM Directorate, CNS Directorate,
Operations Directorate, Engineering Wings, Air Force, Coast Guard and all
concerned in-house departments of AAI were present in the meeting.
UNI GV 1154