Airport Closed: Big news for air passengers! This International airport will be closed for 5 hours on this date, know why?

Airport Closed: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Limited (TIAL) has informed that flight services from the international airport of Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram will be suspended for five hours on November 9 to make way for the ‘Alpasi Arattu’ procession of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

This annual procession is traditionally taken out on routes crossing the runway. TIAL said that flight services will be suspended from 4 pm to 9 pm on November 9. It said that updated flight timings are available with the respective airlines.

The runway of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is closed twice a year for the procession of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple. The practice of taking out the procession through the present routes to reach the Shangumugham beach for the holy bath of the idols began centuries ago. “This ritual has continued even after the establishment of the airport in 1932 to ensure that the culture and traditions of the region remain intact,” TIAL said in a release.

What is tradition?

According to the age-old tradition of the famous Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple, Lord Vishnu is taken to the sea for a holy bath from the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple. The procession to bathe Lord Vishnu passes through the runway of the ‘Arattu’ airport. This has been the traditional route for the procession.

Lord Vishnu is taken for a holy bath twice a year to Shankumugham beach, which is just behind the Thiruvananthapuram airport. The first holy bath is between March and April for the Panguni festival and then in October and November to celebrate Alapasi.

The ritual of the royal era continues even today

The airport has been halting operations and rescheduling flights twice every year for decades to enable the temple’s bi-annual centuries-old ceremonial procession to pass through the runway. Historians say when the airport was built in Thiruvananthapuram, the then Travancore king Sree Chithira Thirunal had made it clear that the facility would be open to the public 363 days a year and two days for Lord Padmanabha, the titular deity of the royal family.

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