Heavy torrential rains accompanied by strong gusty winds lashed Hyderabad, causing significant disruptions to normal life and flight operations at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad. The severe weather and drastically reduced visibility forced airport authorities to suspend landing permissions temporarily for several aircraft. Notably, a flight carrying Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy from Delhi was denied landing clearance by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) on Friday night due to unfavourable conditions, leading to its diversion to Bengaluru.
The disruption continued well into Saturday as weather conditions remained highly unstable, prompting the diversion of nine more incoming domestic and international flights. Flight operations of major carriers including Air India, Indigo, and SpiceJet were severely impacted. Among the affected routes, Air India’s Mumbai-Hyderabad flight, SpiceJet services from Pune and Nanded, and Indigo flights from Singapore and Delhi were all successfully diverted to Bengaluru airport to ensure passenger safety.
Additionally, an Indigo flight from Varanasi was rerouted to Chennai, while another Indigo service from Bengaluru was diverted to Nagpur. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the intense weather activity will persist across Telangana. A red alert has been issued for Sangareddy, Suryapet, and Yadadri districts, while an orange alert remains active for several other districts including Hyderabad, Medchal, Medak, Nalgonda, Mahabubabad, and Khammam, warning residents of continued heavy downpours.
