Bhubaneswar, 27 April

A section of passengers on Sunday protested at the entrance of the Biju Patnaik International Airport, alleging that were left stranded for hours after several flights to Kolkata were diverted to Bhubaneswar due to bad weather.

The passengers claimed that many of them, including children, were not given food or water after landing.

A student said she missed an examination after her flight was diverted to Bhubaneswar.

“I have been stranded for more than eight hours at the airport. I had to miss my examination due to this,” she said.

Bhubaneswar airport director Prasanna Pradhan said eight Kolkata-bound flights were diverted to Bhubaneswar between 10 pm on Saturday and 1.15 am on Sunday,

Out of these flights, six were cleared to return to Kolkata after a temporary halt, he said.

However, two Spicejet flights remained grounded as Bhubaneswar airport is a “non-operational airport” for Spicejet, the official said.

“Due to duty time limitation of the pilots and formal checking of the aircraft, the flights were detained here. The airline arranged buses and hotel accommodation for the passengers. However, some of them did not go to the hotels,” Pradhan said.

He also said that the airport authority provided refreshments to the stranded passengers, and they were set to depart for Kolkata in two flights.