Fog disrupts flight operations at IGI Airport

NEW DELHI: Dense fog once again returned to affect the operations at the IGI Airport where over a dozen flights were delayed this morning.

Three flights -- one freighter aircraft, a Jet Airways flight from Abu Dhabi and a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul -- had to be diverted as the pilots were not trained to land aircraft when the visibility is less than 200 metres, airport sources said.

Fog started to descend at the airport early in the morning and the runway visibility kept fluctuating, causing problems for airport authorities to maintain the schedule of the flights.

According to airport Met officials, the runway visibility was around 100 metres at the third runway (29/11) and around 125 to 200 metres on the main runway (28/10), while the general visibility was less than 50 metres.

This led to delay in departures of some flights as the minimum runway visibility for low visibility take off is 125 to 150 metres.

This also brought take-offs from third runway to a halt but landings were taking place.

There was no suspension of flight operations at the airport due to fog, an airport official said.

Last week, dense fog had badly affected the flight operations at the airport.

Yesterday, Delhi witnessed a clear morning and operations at the IGI were normal after eight days of foggy conditions.