Passengers still stranded at Chennai airport following torrential rains

Torrential rains continue to batter Chennai with many passengers willing to travel to various parts of the country remaining stranded at the airport.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had yesterday said that resumption of commercial flight operations at the Chennai airport may take two more days.

"The airport's basement is still inundated with water. We should give it two days. Once power supply is restored and water evacuation happens, we can restart commercial flight services," Sharma said.

A stranded passenger while speaking to ANI said the Air India flights have not resumed for the people willing to travel now to other parts of the country but are operating for only those passengers who have existing tickets dated December 1.

"Now the Air India is saying that there is not a single flight from Arakkonam. They are resuming flights for passengers who have booked flights from December 1.They are saying that there are no flights for new passengers who are willing to travel to anywhere from here. They are providing special flights to only passengers who have the existing tickets," a stranded passenger told ANI here.

Airport officials in Chennai had received requests from national carrier Air India to operate flights from Sunday after the Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced day-time operations of passenger flights from the airport.

However, in a massive relief for stranded passengers, train services have resumed from the Chennai Central station and the schedules are expected to return to normal from tomorrow.