India’s busiest winter-holiday weekend began with a wave of last-minute cancellations as Cyclone Ditwah swirled across the Bay of Bengal on 29 November, forcing Air India and IndiGo to publish rare, country-wide travel advisories. Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Puducherry and Thoothukudi airports—all critical spokes in corporate shuttle networks that feed the IT corridors of Bengaluru and Hyderabad—reported 54 cancellations and dozens of diversions by Saturday evening.
Air India told passengers to "re-check every departure"—even those beyond the storm’s core—because crew rotations and aircraft positioning would ripple through its domestic schedule for at least 36 hours. IndiGo warned that rain bands had already reached Colombo and Jaffna, disrupting trans-border feeder flights that many multinational firms use for same-day connections between Sri Lanka and south India. Small-aircraft operations from the five worst-hit airports have been suspended until Sunday night, while wide-body services face slot and runway-length restrictions during peak gusts.
![Cyclone Ditwah Triggers Widespread Flight Cancellations; Air India and IndiGo Issue Nationwide Advisories]()
Beyond immediate inconvenience, the storm underlines a structural vulnerability: India’s southern peninsula lacks significant alternate hubs within 200 km that can absorb large diversions. Corporations with mobility programmes should expect higher hotel and ground-transport expenses as employees are rerouted to Bengaluru or Hyderabad, often 6–10 hours by road from Tamil Nadu’s coastal cities. Insurance teams may need to update force-majeure triggers in assignment letters, as the India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for five districts just weeks before the year-end expatriate rotation cycle.
For mobility managers, the practical advice is three-fold. First, urge travellers to use airline apps rather than call centres, which are overloaded; both carriers are waiving change fees for tickets dated 29–30 November. Second, remind assignees to retain boarding-pass stubs and airline notifications—key evidence for corporate travel-insurance claims. Third, review emergency-contact trees for expatriates in Tier-2 industrial parks such as Hosur and Sriperumbudur, which face power outages and flooded arterial roads that could hamper airport access even after flight operations resume.
With the next high tide due on 30 November evening, port authorities have warned of possible seawater ingress into Chennai city limits, raising the spectre of a repeat of the 2015 floods that shut the airport for four days. While Ditwah is expected to weaken over land, airlines say full normalisation may take until mid-week, making advance re-routing the safest choice for time-critical business travel.
Air India told passengers to "re-check every departure"—even those beyond the storm’s core—because crew rotations and aircraft positioning would ripple through its domestic schedule for at least 36 hours. IndiGo warned that rain bands had already reached Colombo and Jaffna, disrupting trans-border feeder flights that many multinational firms use for same-day connections between Sri Lanka and south India. Small-aircraft operations from the five worst-hit airports have been suspended until Sunday night, while wide-body services face slot and runway-length restrictions during peak gusts.
Beyond immediate inconvenience, the storm underlines a structural vulnerability: India’s southern peninsula lacks significant alternate hubs within 200 km that can absorb large diversions. Corporations with mobility programmes should expect higher hotel and ground-transport expenses as employees are rerouted to Bengaluru or Hyderabad, often 6–10 hours by road from Tamil Nadu’s coastal cities. Insurance teams may need to update force-majeure triggers in assignment letters, as the India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for five districts just weeks before the year-end expatriate rotation cycle.
For mobility managers, the practical advice is three-fold. First, urge travellers to use airline apps rather than call centres, which are overloaded; both carriers are waiving change fees for tickets dated 29–30 November. Second, remind assignees to retain boarding-pass stubs and airline notifications—key evidence for corporate travel-insurance claims. Third, review emergency-contact trees for expatriates in Tier-2 industrial parks such as Hosur and Sriperumbudur, which face power outages and flooded arterial roads that could hamper airport access even after flight operations resume.
With the next high tide due on 30 November evening, port authorities have warned of possible seawater ingress into Chennai city limits, raising the spectre of a repeat of the 2015 floods that shut the airport for four days. While Ditwah is expected to weaken over land, airlines say full normalisation may take until mid-week, making advance re-routing the safest choice for time-critical business travel.
