Thiruvananthapuram: Due to a religious procession, flights will be suspended for five hours on April 21

In order to ensure the seamless continuation of the sacred “Painkuni Arattu” procession of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple across the runway on April 21, flight services from Thiruvananthapuram International Airport would be stopped for five hours, TIAL said on Wednesday.

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd (TIAL) said that on April 21, flying services would be halted from 4 to 9 p.m. It said that the relevant airlines have the most recent flight schedules available.

For decades, the airport has been postponing flights and suspending operations twice a year so that the centuries-old, ceremonial procession of the shrine may pass down the runway.

The custom of the temple procession using that route to go to Shangumugham beach for the idols’ holy wash dates back many generations, and it has persisted even after the airport was built in 1932.

Historians claim that upon the construction of the airport at that specific location, the then-king of Travancore, Sree Chithira Thirunal, explicitly stated that the facility would be accessible to the public for 363 days annually and for two days on Lord Padmanabha’s day, the titular deity of the royal dynasty.

Even after the Adani Group assumed control of the airport, the customs of the royal period persisted.

Twice a year, prior to the runway closure for the semi-annual Alpassi festival in October and November and the Painkuni festival in March and April, the airport publishes a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen).