Fog continues to disrupt Delhi airport services; 118 flights cancelled

Dense fog in New Delhi led to the cancellation of at least 118 flights, diversion of 16 flights, and 130 delays at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday (Dec 30).

Flight delays

According to an official, 60 arrivals and 58 departures were cancelled while 16 flights were diverted at the Indira Gandhi International airport.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24.com showed that 130 flights were delayed on Tuesday morning at the said airport with the average delay time for departures being around 28 minutes.

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The Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) posted on X that all flight operations continue as normal and flights that are not CAT III compliant may be affected. CAT III compliance will allow pilots to operate flights in low visibility conditions.

Poor AQI

Delhi woke up to a blanket of dense fog early Tuesday morning, which caused visibility to drop sharply in several areas. This was despite the air quality improving marginally to the ‘very poor’ category at 388.

A ‘yellow’ alert was also issued for the city till 9 am due to the fog by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Visibility levels stood at 100 metres at Safdarjung around 7:30 AM, improving to 200 metres by 8:30 AM. Meanwhile, Palam observed moderate fog, with a visibility of around 300 metres at 8:30 AM, according to the IMD.

Reassuring passengers

Against this backdrop of fog and low visibility conditions, the civil aviation ministry also said that airlines have been instructed to strictly comply with passenger facilitation norms.

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These norms include "timely flight information, meals for delayed passengers, rebooking or refunds in case of cancellations, no denial of boarding after timely check-in, baggage facilitation and prompt grievance redressal.”

(With Agency inputs)