Aircraft crew members at Calcutta airport, where a strike by ground staff forced cancellation of several flights and delayed others. Picture by Aranya Sen

The deluge and a nationwide strike by airport ground staff took a heavy toll on air passengers on Wednesday. Of the 21 Indian airline flights out of Calcutta on Wednesday, 15 were cancelled because of the indefinite strike by the Air Corporation Employees’ Union. The six Indian planes that left, and some other flights, were delayed as passengers and crew could not reach the airport on time because of the rain.

Hundreds were stuck at the airport since morning because of the cancellations and delays. The lucky ones who flew out were asked to travel light because of the absence of baggage-handling workers. Staff at the check-in and ticket counters were also missing.

“Only one Indian check-in counter was open,” said Sohini Chakraborty. The undergraduate student was going to Pune via Mumbai to rejoin college. “My flight was at 5am. We were kept waiting till 7am and then told that the flight had been cancelled.”

Meerut resident and Border Roads Organisation officer Y.K. Verma arrived at the airport with his family at 8am, on way to Aizawl from Meerut. Till late in the evening, there was no information about his Indian flight.

Morning flights of other airlines were delayed by an hour on an average because of bad weather. The passengers on their way to Calcutta also faced difficulties, with only six of the 22 Indian flights scheduled to fly in actually making it to the city. The Bangkok-Calcutta Druk Air flight could not land because of poor visibility and was diverted to Paro. Another plane later flew the passengers to the city. An IndiGo flight from Chennai was diverted to Guwahati.

On the ground, several suburban trains were cancelled as the tracks went under water. Power snags and signal failures stalled some more trains.

The downpour also hit local, suburban and Circular Railway trains. Circular Railway trains did not run during the day because of waterlogging on tracks near Chitpur and Mullickghat, said an Eastern Railway official. On the Howrah Main line, 24 local trains were cancelled in the morning. Services were also disrupted in the Sealdah division.