AAI and Indian Railways make necessary arrangements in view of Cyclone Fani

The Airports Authority of India and Indian Railways have made necessary arrangements in view of the imminent cyclone Fani which could hit the Odisha coast on Friday afternoon.

AAI has issued an alert to all coastal airports to ensure that all precautions and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are put in place.

Earlier, AAI had a preparatory meeting with relevant stakeholders. The severe cyclonic storm FANI which is heading towards the Odisha coast is likely to affect operations of Trains and Flights.

Indigo Airlines has cancelled all flights from and to Vishakhapatnam. "Due to Cyclone Fani, flights to/from Visakhapatnam have been cancelled for today (May 2)," Indigo said.

Vistara airlines also issued an advisory to passengers which said, "In light of expected cyclone FANI which is likely to impact Bhubaneswar and Kolkata on May 2 and 3. We are waiving change and cancellation fee for Bhubaneswar and Kolkata flights for travel between May 2 and 5; fare difference, if any, will be applicable for date changes."

Indian Railways has also made special arrangements to evacuate tourists and visitors from Puri, in view of Cyclone Fani. A special train will start from Puri at 12 noon and go towards Shalimar in Kolkata. The train will reach Bhubaneswar at 1.30 pm today. Two more special trains at 3 pm and 6 pm, respectively, are scheduled to leave Puri for Howrah later today.

According to the latest updates from India Meteorological Department (IMD), the "extremely severe" cyclone Fani is about 450 km from Puri and likely to cross the Odisha coast on Friday afternoon.