Fog turns Delhi airport into a no-fly zone

New Delhi: Scenes of stranded passengers, chaos and anger at airline counters and aircraft parked on the tarmac as pilots waited for the sun to clear the fog were back at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday as thick fog nearly grounded flight operations.
At the newly inaugurated Terminal 3 or T3, more than 80 flights were hit: 38, including 24 domestic and 14 international flights, were cancelled. Another 42 flights were diverted to Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Lucknow as runway visibility dropped to less than 100m for several hours.
Fog affected 10 per cent of Delhi's air traffic. On an average day, 850 flights operate from the airport, which is equipped with CAT IIIB, or Category IIIB, Instrument Landing System (ILS). The equipment allows aircraft to descend down to 50ft in fog. As the fog touched down, passengers were stranded and airlines were helplessly rearranging schedules. Passengers of all major domestic airlines bore the brunt of the cancellations. China Air, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Air France and British Airways flights too were affected. Delays were between two and five hours.
At T3, SNA Zaidi, civil aviation secretary, inspected arrangements made by DIAL to tackle the fog.
In an effort to mitigate fog-related flight disruptions, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided that aircraft that are not compliant with CAT IIIB ILS will not be allowed to land in Delhi before 10 am during low-visibility conditions, Zaidi said.
27/12/10 India Today

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Categories: Airports Dec 2010