Fog hits flight operations at IGI airport; 200 flights affected

NEW DELHI: Dense fog continued to envelope IGI airport today for the second day running as flight operations came to a standstill for four hours due to poor visibility, affecting schedule of over 200 flights and causing inconvenience to passengers.

A total of 19 domestic and international flights were cancelled, seven diverted and rest were delayed by over three to four hours.

Flight operations were suspended from 5 AM till 9 AM as visibility at all the three runways dropped to less than 50 metres, the minimum required for landing under poor visibility conditions using the CAT-III B instrument landing system ( ILS).

Passengers faced tough time as they had to wait for long hours either in the aircraft or at the terminal building.

As no take-offs or landing were taking place due to poor visibility, passengers were seen visiting airline counters or glued to the flight information display system ( FIDS) to know the flight status.

They even complained about wrong information being provided by airlines' helpline about the status of the flight.

"My Spicejet flight to Srinagar was to depart at 7.30 AM but it was rescheduled due to fog, when we called up the airlines' helpline, first they said flight was reschedule but when my brother called up again they said it had already took off from Delhi and landed in Srinagar," said Rajan Rishi, an IT professional.

The fog started to descend upon Delhi airport around midnight yesterday, it engulfed the airport this morning and became dense, reducing the general visibility to almost zero.

It started to become more dense around 5 AM and visibility at the runway went below 50 metres.

Yesterday, the airport witnessed winter's first fog as flight operations were halted for over two hours, leading to delays and diversions of around 140 flights.