Centre directs Delhi airport to step up efforts as fog forces delay of 168 flights

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, January 15

In view of dense fog in the national capital, the Union government today directed the Delhi airport to step up its efforts to mitigate prevailing issues.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia took note of the situation at the Delhi airport, where more than 100 flights were delayed due to low visibility on Sunday.

A total of 168 flights were delayed and 84 flights were cancelled on Monday while 18 trains were also running late.

“Yesterday, Delhi witnessed unprecedented fog, wherein visibility fluctuated for several hours and at times dropped to zero between 5 am to 9 am,” read his post on X.

The social media post further read that the authorities were compelled to enforce a shut-down of operations for some time even on CAT-III runways. The decision was taken in view of passengers’ safety that remains the foremost priority for all in the aviation ecosystem, it added.

The Minister said that to mitigate such situations in the near future, the Delhi airport had been directed to immediately expedite the operationalisation of the CAT III-enabled fourth runway, in addition to the existing CAT III-enabled runway, subject to the satisfaction of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in order to get approvals.

The CAT-III is a navigation system which allows for airplanes to land even during poor visibility and can operate even at the minimum visibility of 50m.

Scindia further said, “The DGCA will issue a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for airlines on better communication and facilitation of passengers to minimise discomfort in view of flight cancellations and delays due to adverse weather.”

He also urged the passengers to bear with the difficult period and assured them that all the stakeholders were trying their best to minimise inconvenience to the passengers.

He, however, added, “Incidences of unruly behaviour amidst this are unacceptable and will be dealt with strongly in line with the existing legal provisions.”

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature in the Capital dipped to 3.3°C, four degrees below normal, while the maximum temperature remained at normal, stabilising at 19.7°C.

The India Meteorological Department said that very dense fog was observed in most places in Delhi while cold wave conditions were observed at a few places – Sadarjung and Lodi Road, where mercury dipped to 3.9°C and 3.6°C, respectively.

Also, the air quality was recorded at 359 in the ‘very poor’ category after stringent norms under GRAP Stage-III were reimposedin the NCR on Sunday.