200 flights hit by airport fog

New Delhi: Air-travellers stranded at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) got their first real taste of the season’s nightmare - fog-related delays - with airport visibility reduced to less than 10 metres.
Nearly 200 flights, domestic and international, were delayed by several hours. For five hours there were no take-offs and only two landings.
At least 19 flights were cancelled and eight (three domestic and five international) had to be diverted to other destinations - Mumbai, Jaipur, Lucknow and Ahmedabad.
At least 50 flights had to be rescheduled.
There’s more bad news. The IGI Met Department has predicted almost identical similar weather conditions for Tuesday.
Fog started enveloping the airport by 7 pm on Monday. “Visibility was down to 600 metres and the Runway Visual Range (RVR) to 1300 metres. With dense fog over large parts of North India, winds in Delhi are still weak. Category-III fog will is expected from 2 am to 11 am on Tuesday, again disrupting flights,” R K Jenamani, Director in-charge, IGI Met department, said.
On Monday, normal visibility dipped to below 50 metres and the the RVR went below 100 metres for at least 11 hours (from 1.15 am to 12 noon). During this period, only CAT III- compatible aircraft could operate.
Between 6 and 11 am, a Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) spokesperson said, all flight operations, barring two arrivals, were suspended as runway visibility was down to zero.
30/12/08 Expressindia.com

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Categories: Airports Dec 2008