Fog forces diversion of Chennai flights

Chennai: Four flights were diverted to Bangalore after visibility dipped to 500 m due to fog at the Chennai airport on Tuesday morning. One flight was diverted to Bangalore last week when visibility had dipped in a similar fashion.
On Tuesday, a thick blanket of fog enveloped the runways between 5.30 am and 5.40 am, as a result of which an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi, a Jet Airways flight from Dubai, a Qatar Airways flight from Doha and an Alliance Air flight from Nagpur were diverted to Bangalore.
In March 2009, seven incoming flights were diverted to Bangalore and four departures were delayed due to poor visibility caused by fog.
While Met department officials attributed the fog to natural atmospheric causes, an airport official said that instances of fog disrupting flight movements have been less this year when compared to previous years. But there was no fog elsewhere in the city.
"Today the area near the airport was unusually hazy. Visibility was a little low 1 am onwards. The haziness continued till around 6.30 am. The fog was a little brownish," said an airport official. International airlines never take a risk by attempting to land when visibility is not very good, he added.
Visibility has dipped between 1,000 m and 1,500 m in the recent months, but this is the first time it has dipped to 500 m. "This is not smog because it often reduces visibility only upto 2,000 metres. Poor visibility caused by pollution was a problem last year, especially because construction work is happening to expand the airport. But haziness caused by pollution has reduced," sources said.
24/03/10 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Mar 2010