Indian airport halts flights for divine procession
Indian airport halts flights for divine procession
For a few hours on a warm April day, jets paused and silence reclaimed the skies above the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala.
The airport’s closure was not due to bad weather or a technical glitch, as one might assume, but to make way for a Hindu temple procession that marches right across its runway.
Devotees pull ornate wooden chariots bearing temple idols along a 2km (1.2 miles) stretch of the runway, a tradition so revered that it shuts down operations for a few hours at the airport, which usually handles 90 landings and take-offs daily. Elephants, a common part of Hindu religious events in India, also walk on the runway.
The event, which took place last Friday, is part of the annual Painkuni festival held by the famed Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, home to treasures worth billions of rupees.
The procession, taken out on the final day of the 10-day festival, begins at the temple and heads through the runway to the Shanghumugham beach, around 6km away.
When the procession arrives at the beach, priests give a ritual bath in the sea to the idols. The return journey follows the same route, crossing the runway again and reaching the temple.
The procession is led by the head of the former royal family of Travancore, which built the airport in 1932. It’s not clear when the festival and the procession started but the ritual has been followed since then, even when the management of the airport passed on to the government and then a private company.
The airport is currently managed by Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, owned by billionaire Gautam Adani’s Group. The airport also shuts down operations for a few hours for a similar procession during the temple’s Alpashi Festival, usually in October or November every year.The Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is one of the few airports in the world that closes down for a religious event. Others include Indonesia’s Ngurah Rai Airport during the Balinese Hindu new year and Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day in Judaism. But these are public holidays when the airport shuts down entirely and it’s rare for a high-security runway to be used to actually facilitate a religious or cultural event.
Rahul Bhatkoti, chief airport officer, said the airport was proud to have the opportunity to preserve the legacy of the temple’s procession.
