Thiruvananthapuram: Flight services at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala will be temporarily suspended for five hours on April 21. Flight services would be suspended from 4 pm to 9 pm on April 21. The Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd (TIAL) announced this.
The flight operations were suspended for the smooth continuation of the holy ‘Painkuni Arattu’ procession of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple across the runway.
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The airport has been pausing operations and rescheduling flights twice every year for decades. The airport suspends its flight services every year at the time of the traditional Arattu procession. During this procession, the idol of Lord Vishnu is carried to Shankumugham Beach which is just behind the airport in Thiruvananthapuram. On this occasion, the deity is given a ‘holy dip’ twice a year.
The practice of the temple procession taking that path to reach the Shangumugham beach for the holy bath of the idols began centuries ago and it has been continuing even after the establishment of the airport in 1932. When the airport was constructed at the particular place, the then Travancore King Sree Chithira Thirunal had made it clear that facility would be open for public for 363 days in a year and for two days for Lord Padmanabha, the titular deity of the royal family, according to historians.
The airport issues a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) twice every year before the runway is closed during the bi-annual Alpassi festival which falls in October-November and the Painkuni festival in March-April. The updated timings of the flights are available with the respective airlines.
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