Two Ranchi-Bound IndiGo Flights Diverted to Varanasi; Arjun Munda Among 379 Passengers

Two IndiGo flights bound for Ranchi were diverted to Varanasi's Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport on Friday morning after bad weather and poor visibility at Ranchi's Birsa Munda Airport stopped aircraft from landing there for a while. Former Jharkhand chief minister and former Union agriculture minister Arjun Munda was on board one of them.

Between them, the two aircraft were carrying 379 passengers. Both landed safely at Babatpur.

The first to come in was flight 6E 6484 from Pune. With the weather at Ranchi not clearing, the pilot contacted Varanasi air traffic control and, after getting permission, diverted to Varanasi. The aircraft touched down at around 9.15 am with 163 passengers and seven crew members.

Passengers were brought off the aircraft at Varanasi and given their baggage. The airline then began arranging their onward journey to Ranchi, by road and on other flights, according to each passenger's needs.

About an hour later, at around 10.16 am, flight 6E 6370 from Delhi landed with 216 passengers and six crew members. Munda was travelling on this flight.

The Delhi aircraft spent a little over two hours on the ground at Babatpur. Once conditions at Ranchi improved, it left Varanasi for Ranchi at around 12.40 pm.

Not all of its passengers went back on board. Of the 216 people on the Delhi flight, 64 decided to end their journey at Varanasi and got off here. The rest flew on to Ranchi.

Airport officials said passengers of both flights were given the necessary facilities while they waited at the terminal, and the airline arranged breakfast and refreshments for them. According to the officials, one aircraft left for Ranchi, while passengers of the other were sent on by road.

In practice that meant two very different Fridays for the travellers. Those on the Delhi flight reached Ranchi by air early in the afternoon, a few hours late. Those who had boarded in Pune found themselves in Varanasi instead and finished the journey by road or on another flight arranged by the airline.

The morning's disruption came from Ranchi's end. Visibility there dropped suddenly on Friday and landings were held up for some time, and both aircraft were sent to Varanasi.

The weather at Babatpur was not ideal either. The city has been under cloud, light rain and gusty easterly winds since Thursday. The India Meteorological Department's East Uttar Pradesh warning issued on Friday lists very heavy rain with thunderstorms for 25 and 26 September and heavy rain for 27 September. Both diverted flights nevertheless landed at Varanasi without incident.