Flight disruptions in Delhi amidst thick fog: 10 diversions, over 100 delays
About 10 flights were diverted, and more than 100 faced delays due to the low visibility caused by the dense fog at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Over the last three days, the national capital has experienced severe cold, reaching the lowest minimum temperature of the winter season on Sunday. Within the enveloping dense fog in the city, passengers at Delhi Airport are encountering discomfort, as flight operations were disrupted on Sunday due to thick fog. Officials, as reported by the news agency PTI, indicated that about 10 flights were diverted, and more than 100 faced delays due to the low visibility caused by the dense fog.

Visibility at Indira Gandhi International Airport was nearly zero between 4 am and 10 am, resulting in no flight departures and only 15 arrivals during that period, PTI report further said citing sources. Under normal weather conditions, the airport manages around 60 departures and arrivals per hour.
Officials also stated that the 10 diversions occurred because the pilots were not trained for CAT III landings on the concerned flights.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that this season's dense fog was the longest duration experienced so far.
Disruptions with various airlines
IndiGo:
IndiGo Airlines released an official statement acknowledging the impact of low visibility and dense fog conditions across North India on their flight operations on Sunday. “Due to the low visibility and dense fog conditions across North India, IndiGo flight operations were impacted on January 14, 2024. This had a cascading effect on our operations throughout the day. Our staff kept passengers apprised of all delays and cancellations across airports and made every possible effort to facilitate the passengers. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers,” the airlines said.
Air India:
In regard to Air India, one of the affected flights at Delhi airport, specifically AI 185 to Vancouver, faced rescheduling due to the dense fog. Passengers experienced prolonged waiting times on the aircraft before deboarding. The flight, originally scheduled for a little past 5.00 am, could not take off, leading to a decision to reschedule the departure in compliance with flight duty timing requirements. The rescheduled departure is now expected around 11.30 pm, and affected passengers have been provided accommodation.
Vistara and Akasa Air:
Vistara and Akasa Air also addressed the impact of dense fog on their operations. Vistara communicated potential disruptions in arrivals and departures from Delhi due to poor visibility. Similarly, Akasa Air acknowledged the adverse weather conditions in Delhi, Chennai, Varanasi, Bagdogra, and Lucknow, resulting in affected flight schedules and consequential delays on Sunday.
Akasa Air further highlighted specific flight cancellations attributed to fog in Varanasi. The affected flights included Bengaluru-Varanasi, Varanasi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Varanasi, and Varanasi-Bengaluru, with the cancellations communicated in posts at 12.12 pm and 1.35 pm.
Fog to prevail for next three to four days
As bone-chilling temperatures persist, the weather department has issued an alert predicting that a dense fog is likely to endure in isolated pockets of northwest India for the next three to four days
“Very dense fog layer extends over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, North Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Passengers on highways need to drive extremely carefully and only with fog lights,” the IMD posted from its X handle.
“Journeys need to be halted until fog reduction by morning especially on expressways. Very Dense fog reporting over Amritsar, Chandigarh, Patiala, Ambala, Ganganagar, Palam, Safdarjung, Lucknow with visibility 0 meter since 0230 hrs IST of today,” it added.
(With inputs from agencies)

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