President’s arrival delays air traffic for hours

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Dec 24: Ms Prathibha Patil, the president of India, stopped at Bajpe Airport for a few minutes on Dec 24 on her way to Lakshadweep Islands, where she is currently spending her annual vacation. 

She arrived from Delhi, accompanied by members of her family, in an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane and stopped at Mangalore at the end of a 4-hour flight, prior to which she had stopped briefly at Mumbai for refueling. 

She exchanged a few pleasant words with District-in-charge Minister J Krishna Palemar; Mr. Santhosh Bhandary, the president of Zilla Panchayat; Mr V Ponnuraj, the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada; and Dr. A S Rao, the superintendent of police before boarding an Indian Airforce turboprop plane to Lakshadweep. The president took 75 minutes to reach Lakshadweep from Mangalore.

Three IAF planes, one with the president and two others following close behind, arrived in a formation. The protocol officials in Mangalore said that 3 more fighter planes joined the formation over the Arabian Sea. 

Because of the president’s brief visit to Mangalore, a number of flights coming in from Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Dubai, and Abu Dhabhi were delayed for nearly 2 hours. As a result of this, a number of flights arrived late one after the other causing heavy rush at the airport.