CHENNAI: Pilots of three aircraft, low on fuel, had to ditch landings at Chennai airport and touch down at different airports after instructions by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to wait their turn to land as airspace over the city was busy with chartered and scheduled flights carrying VVIPs heading to pay homage to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief ministers of some states and VVIPs from various parts of the country arrived in Chennai between 11.30 am and 1.30 pm by chartered and scheduled aircraft to attend Jayalalithaa funeral, airport officials said.This compelled ATCs to ask pilots of some scheduled flights to circle the airport before receiving permission to land. But the pilots of two IndiGo aircraft and a Sri Lankan Airlines jet decided to make for other airports.A senior AAI official said a Mumbai-Chennai IndiGo flight sought permission to land at Chennai at 12.50 pm. As there was VVIP movement at the airport, ATC asked the captain of the flight to remain airborne till the VVIP aircraft received clearance to depart. The aircraft, however, was not carrying adequate fuel and its pilot set off for Hyderabad’s Shamshabad airport.A Colombo-Chennai Sri Lankan flight arrived over Chennai around 1 pm. ATC asked the captain of this flight, too, to hover for some time. With little fuel in the aircraft, however, the pilot decided to return to Colombo.ATC officials also asked the pilot of another IndiGo flight that reached Chennai from Thiruvananthapuram at 1.10 pm to wait because of the VVIP movement at the airport. The aircraft did not have adequate fuel on board so the pilot headed to Coimbatore, the official said.