Kerala airport halts flights for five hours for religious procession

Flight services from the international airport here were suspended for about five hours on Thursday afternoon to make way for the Alpassi Arattu procession of Sree Padmanabhaswamy TempleThe flight services were halted around 445 pm and resumed at 9 pm after the procession returned back to the temple TIAL saidThe airport has been pausing operations and rescheduling flights twice every year for decades to enable the biannual centuriesold ceremonial procession of the shrine to pass through the runwaySree Moolam Tirunal Rama Varma the present head of the erstwhile Travancore royal family sporting the traditional green silk cap an emerald necklace and carrying the ceremonial sword led the religious procession from the temple to the Shankumugham beach across the airport tarmacHe was accompanied by a small contingent of police personnelThe procession began from the shrine at around 500 pm and besides the male members of the royal family a large number of devotees several caparisoned elephants a squad of mounted police and a police band were also part of the processionThe procession moved along the tarmac and reached the beach to the sound of trumpets and drum beatsAfter entering the airport premises the utsava Vigrahas idols of Padmanabha Swamy Narasimha Moorthy and Krishna Swami were kept at the arattu mandapam near the runway for some time and later taken to the nearby beach for the ritualsAfter a dip in the sea off Shankumugham beach the idols were then taken back to the shrine in a procession lit by traditional torches marking the conclusion of the festivalThe Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd TIAL shared photos of the procession in a Facebook post in which it said Amidst the rhythm of devotion and the serenity of the moment the sacred Arattu procession of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple made its ceremonial passage through our runway a moment where tradition takes flightAt ThiruvananthapuramAirport we take immense pride in witnessing this timeless ritual unfold symbolising a beautiful confluence of faith culture and modernityFlight services resumed at around 9 pm after the procession returned to the temple and the tarmac was cleaned and declared fit for air operations an airport source saidThe practice of the temple procession passing through the route to reach the Shangumugham beach for the holy bath of the idols began centuries ago and it has been continuing even after the establishment of the airport in 1932When the airport was constructed in the particular place the then Travancore King Sree Chithira Thirunal had made it clear that facility would be open for public for 363 days in a year and for two days for Lord Padmanabha the titular deity of the royal family according to historiansThe royalera ritual has been continuing even after the Adani Group took over the management of the airportThe airport issues a NOTAM Notice to Airmen twice every year before the runway is closed during the biannual Alpassi festival which falls in OctoberNovember and the Painkuni festival in MarchAprilThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever