New Delhi, May 14 (IANS) Air traffic in Delhi’s airspace was affected Wednesday as a heavy dust storm followed by torrential rains lashed the capital city. Several flights of the domestic airlines had to be diverted to nearby cities. Airport officials told IANS four domestic flights were diverted to Lucknow and Jaipur airports during the storm, which remained active for about 25 minutes from 10 a.m.

According to an official of the Delhi International Airport Limited, the airport developer of the Indira Gandhi International airport, two domestic flights of Air India and one flight each of Jet Airways and JetLite were forced to hover over the capital’s airspace due to the severe storm and were subsequently diverted to Jaipur and Lucknow.

The official said a few other flights, which were to take off around the time when the storm broke out, were delayed by half an hour. The flights resumed soon after the storm cleared.