Flight operations at Chennai airport were suspended till 6 am Thursday as the runway was inundated, leaving many people stranded.

RK Srivastava, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, told reporters here that the situation would be reviewed after 6 am Thursday.

Flight operations were suspended at 8 pm on Tuesday, with 66 flights arriving in Chennai and 53 flights departing from the city being cancelled, he said.

Srivastava said all 1,500 passengers stranded in the airport terminal were being evacuated, adding that all other airports in Tamil Nadu were operational.

Telecom offers Meanwhile, telecom companies stepped in to do their bit by offering free packages to help stranded people and facilitate relief work, even as many flooded areas reported having no connectivity.

Public sector BSNL announced free calls, SMS and data package for the next seven days. BSNL’s offer for pre-paid users includes free STD, and data package of 100MB. For landline and broadband users, it is offering free voice calls and 100MB package. Post-paid users will get rental rebate of seven days.

Private player Bharti Airtel, too, announced some offers, such as auto approval of ‘talk time’ credit up to ₹30 for all pre-paid mobile customers, free credit of 10 minutes of Airtel-to-Airtel calls for pre-paid users with validity of two days, as also free credit of 50MB mobile data for Airtel pre-paid mobile users two-day validity.

Aircel is also offering free 10 minutes Aircel-to-Aircel calls across India to all Chennai users for the next three days, auto credit of ₹30 along with 10 free all-India SMS valid for three days, and 100MB 2G/3G free data valid for three days.

Vodafone will give ‘chhota credit’ of ₹10 to all pre-paid users and credit of 10 minutes for Vodafone-to-Vodafone calls, as also free 100MB mobile data for two days.

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