New Delhi: In a partial relief for flyers to and from Delhi, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has reduced the nine-day (January 18-26) closure period of IGI airport — between 10.30am and 12.15pm — to seven days.
"IAF has reduced the closure of IGIA airspace by two days. On January 19 and 25, the airspace would remain open and flights would operate as scheduled on these two days," aviation secretary R N Choubey told TOI.
The aviation ministry had been in talks with defence authorities as the 10.30am to 12.15pm airspace closure for nine days in the run-up to Republic Day had led to airlines being asked to cancel their domestic flights during this period, with a buffer of plus and minus 30 minutes too. This was affecting over 100 flights a day and would have led to a closure of almost 1,000 flights over the nine-day period.
With IAF reducing two days from airspace closure period, this year's R-Day airport closure will now be the same as previous years. But the difference is that given the growth in air traffic, flights of that period will not be pre or postponed as there are no free slots. Members of Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) management met airlines officials on Monday to discuss the issue of flight cancellation.Airlines like Air India and Vistara said they would offer free rescheduling or full refund to passengers booked on flights which may have to be cancelled due to the R-Day airspace closure notice to airmen (NOTAM). Other airlines have so far not commented on their policy for people booked on affected flights.
09/01/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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"IAF has reduced the closure of IGIA airspace by two days. On January 19 and 25, the airspace would remain open and flights would operate as scheduled on these two days," aviation secretary R N Choubey told TOI.
The aviation ministry had been in talks with defence authorities as the 10.30am to 12.15pm airspace closure for nine days in the run-up to Republic Day had led to airlines being asked to cancel their domestic flights during this period, with a buffer of plus and minus 30 minutes too. This was affecting over 100 flights a day and would have led to a closure of almost 1,000 flights over the nine-day period.
With IAF reducing two days from airspace closure period, this year's R-Day airport closure will now be the same as previous years. But the difference is that given the growth in air traffic, flights of that period will not be pre or postponed as there are no free slots. Members of Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) management met airlines officials on Monday to discuss the issue of flight cancellation.Airlines like Air India and Vistara said they would offer free rescheduling or full refund to passengers booked on flights which may have to be cancelled due to the R-Day airspace closure notice to airmen (NOTAM). Other airlines have so far not commented on their policy for people booked on affected flights.
09/01/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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