Dense fog in North India causes massive flight disruptions at Delhi airport

Flights operations at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport took a hit on Wednesday as severe cold conditions and a thick layer of fog caused as many as 100 flights to be rescheduled.

"Due to bad weather (fog) for three days, over 100 flights are reported delayed from and to Delhi airport, some have also been diverted to the nearest airport," a Delhi airport official told ANI.

Even as the congestion at the airport in New Delhi was being tackled amid a busy year-end holiday season, the problems of air travellers increased once more with dense fog covering most parts of north India.


Poor visibility affecting the northern parts of the country over the past few days, once again disrupted flight movement on Wednesday.

According to the Delhi airport official, another reason for the delay in flights is that some airlines have not deployed their CAT-III-compliant pilots yet.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) advised passengers on Tuesday to check their flight status with the airline concerned as flight operations at Delhi airport was only for CAT-III compliant ones.

"While landing and take-offs are continuing at Delhi airport, flights that are not CAT-III compliant may get affected. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for the updated flight information," DIAL said.

CAT-III Instrument Landing System (ILS) allows flights to land safely in low visibility. CAT III-B ILS allows aircraft to land with a runway visual range (RVR) of up to 50m with a decision height of 15m.