Nine flights diverted from Delhi as a 76 kmph squall and red alert hit IGI

Nine flights bound for Indira Gandhi International Airport were diverted on Friday afternoon after heavy rain flooded the approach road and forecourt and a squall pushed winds to 76 kmph. The diversions ran between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Four aircraft went to Jaipur, four to Lucknow and one to Ahmedabad. Visibility over the field dropped to about 600 metres.

The Lucknow list, confirmed by airport and airline sources, was Akasa Air QP 1821 from Bengaluru, Air India AI 484 from Ludhiana, Air India AI 2516 from Indore and Air India AI 2541 from Hyderabad. QP 1821 landed in Lucknow at 4:37 p.m. AI 484 arrived at 4:50 p.m. and left again at 5:51 p.m. The Indore and Hyderabad services arrived at 4:58 p.m. and 5:06 p.m. Delhi Airport said standing water on the approach road and in the terminal forecourt was cleared soon after the burst and posted video of the pumps at work.

The India Meteorological Department had a red warning on Delhi-NCR for heavy rain, thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds. By 3:45 p.m. Safdarjung had 23 mm, Pusa 14 mm and Narayana 12 mm. Forecast winds were 40 to 50 kmph with gusts to 60 kmph, before the airport's own reading of 76 kmph in the squall. Isolated falls of 50 to 100 mm were still expected into the evening. Light to moderate rain with thunderstorms was listed through Saturday across Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Haryana.

West Delhi colonies including Sagarpur reported water on streets. Arterial roads were not, at the first count, jammed at the level of the worst August days. IndiGo told passengers using Delhi to check status before leaving home and to allow extra road time. Domestic services from Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Port Blair were among those delayed rather than diverted.

The timing is awkward for the city administration. Delhi hosts the 18th BRICS Leaders' Summit on 12 and 13 September. Forecourt flooding at the main international airport, even when it is pumped out within an hour, is the image no protocol team wants eight days before arriving heads of government. The same monsoon trough that fed Friday's cell has already produced repeated alerts in late August.

A squall is a sudden jump in wind speed, not a long storm. Combined with a red warning and a 600-metre visibility line, it is enough to break an arrival bank. Nine diversions in one hour is a manageable operational event. It is also a reminder that IGI's drainage on the public side of the terminals still fails in a short, hard burst.

IMD's next bulletins will say whether Saturday stays inside the red box. Airlines will spend the night recovering aircraft from Jaipur, Lucknow and Ahmedabad. The BRICS planning group will spend it asking how the forecourt looks on camera when the next cell arrives.