Low visibility delays 75 flights at IGI

New Delhi: Flights continue to be delayed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, despite the new, Instrument Landing System (ILS)-enabled run-way, 29-11.
Delhi witnesses a lot of fog and smog at this time of the year, causing low visibility. Flight delays have already touched the 100 mark in two days. As many as 75 flights were delayed on Sunday, with the duration ranging from 30 minutes to three hours. Peak-hour flights that were delayed because of morning smog resulted in a huge backlog till the evening. “The visibility had been as low as 500 metres since 5.30 am, which got a little better around 8.30 am. It improved to 800 metres around 10 am,” a Met department official said.
An Air India flight scheduled for departure at 11.25 am took off at 1.30 pm. A Jet flight from Jodhpur arrived an hour late. “The backlog resulted in air congestion,” said an Air Traffic Control official. On Saturday, runway 29-11 remained non-operational for more than an hour due to a technical snag in the ILS. Airport officials have said the new runway can take care of flights even when the visibility is low.
10/11/08 Expressindia.com

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Categories: Airports Nov 2008