Delay, cancellation of flights leads to chaos at airport in Amritsar

Several flights were delayed and cancelled during the past 24 hours due to thick blanket of smog resulting in zero visibility last night. An airport official claimed that the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport is equipped with CAT-IIIB which helps to pilots land aircrafts even in low visibility.

He said, “Pilots are helpless when visibility drops to 50 metre.” He said there was zero visibility at 8 am on Sunday. Smog was wreaking havoc on flight operations for last several days resulting in delays and cancellation of many flights. Airlines, thousands of passengers and airport employees were facing inconvenience, he said while adding that flight operators and other stakeholders were suffering losses running into crores.

Last night, a chaos was witnessed at the international airport after Air India Express Flight IX-191, bound for Dubai, was cancelled. The flight, scheduled to depart at 7 pm, had approximately 184 passengers on board. After checking in on time, passengers were asked to board the flight an hour prior to departure. However, the flight failed to take off.

Passengers waited for six hours, only to be informed at 11 pm that their flight had been cancelled. The airline cited crew timing issues, but failed to provide adequate explanation or compensation.

A flyer expressing frustration said passengers were left unattended without water for three hours. They protested against the airline at midnight, he said. Low visibility also hit the rail traffic yesterday night and in the early morning. The visibility improved in the afternoon. It was a sunny in afternoon after several days.