On Saturday Delhi airport closed for 9 hours, 200 flights delayed

New Delhi: In spite of three runways and state-of-the-art equipment, the Indira Gandhi International Airport failed the fog test on Saturday. And it’s only going to get worse.
After a relatively fog-free December, the IGI airport witnessed dense fog for prolonged hours on Saturday.
Unprecedented chaos followed with the failure of the airport’s fogfighting equipment that was meant to allow flights to operate in very poor visibility. The airport remained shut for close to nine hours as a result.
No flight could take off or land between 1.20 am and 10.20 am after visibility dropped to less than 50 metres. A glitch in the cables connected to the Runway Visual Range (RVR) measuring machine forced air traffic control officials to suspend flight operations.
While visibility improved in the day, weather conditions started worsening by evening and by 8.30 pm, visibility plummeted to below 50 metres again. With the RVR machines still not completely repaired, only runway 29 was operational on standby mode.
Domestic operations were severely affected in the evening, with most flights delayed and some diverted.
Sunday is expected to be very chaotic at the airport due to the huge backlog of flights.
03/01/10 Hindustan Times

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Jan 2010