The Chennai airport needs to find a solution to avoid a repeat of the inundation that shut down the airport last week, said Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathy Raju. This is a setback but we have to learn from it, he said.

The airport operations will be fully restored in two days, he said.

The airport was shut down for four days from Wednesday last week after it was inundated by flood waters from the Adyar river, which runs under the second runway.

Wall breached The airport’s boundary wall was breached at 17 places, he told newspersons after inspecting the airport.

“We need to find an engineering solution to this problem and ensure that this does not happen in future,” he said.

“It [the shutdown] is bad for aviation. This is a setback. We are willing to learn from it,” he said.

Raju inspected the airport and expressed satisfaction over the quick restoration of operations despite a number of damages caused to navigational aids and to the perimeter walls of the airport. He asked all airlines to quickly start operations of both domestic and international flights.

Flights At present, Air India, Indigo, Jet Airways and TrueJet have started domestic operations and Air India Express commenced international operations. By Tuesday, most of the international airlines will start operations, he was quoted as saying in a press release.

In the afternoon, Raju met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and expressed thanks for the support that the State extended in resuming operations at the airport. She requested Raju to ensure full-fledged operations by the airlines at the earliest, the release said.

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