Delhi airport hit by winters, flight delays are expected

New Delhi: Winters have set in and so has fog. But with the changing weather is the Delhi International Airport and the new look IGI Airport in Delhi is drawing much admiration. ”Its very good,” says a passenger. ”But flight delays persist,” adds another. ”My flight was delayed fro 1 hr/ no reason given just delayed,” says another passenger.
As the winter sets in, passengers fear the situation will worsen. Like in the previous years, fog and low visibility is a matter of concern. The Delhi International Airport Limited claims its equipped to operate even in dense fog. But sources at the ATC say the brand new CAT3B compatible runway lighting failed on Friday... leading to delays. DIAL though isnt admitting it.
“Some flights were waiting for an hour due to low visibility that’s what happened,” says COO, DIAL, Andrew Harrison. While a single incident may not reflect the overall state of preparedness, it is a warning. But DIAL says a three-tier system is sufficient. This includes CAT IIIB Landing System enabled runways that allow aircraft to land even when visibility is down to 50 meters. 55 parking bays with CAT III compatible lighting to help smoothen aircraft movement and a centralised Emergency Response centre to co-ordinate operations during fog.The DIAL is confident that they will be able to deal with dense fog conditions given the CAT IIIB compatibility but whether or not the cat 3 system will work is yet to be ascertained. Till then inconvenience is regretted as per a sign board at the airport.
24/11/08 Priyanka Dube/CNN-IBN

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Categories: Airports Nov 2008