Delhi Airport : Flight operations hit as dense fog drops visibility to zero
Delhi Airport Faces 3-Hour Average Delays Due to Thick Fog, According to Tracking Data
Sunday morning dawned under a dense fog cover in Delhi and various parts of the country, causing disruptions with several trains and flights to and from the national capital experiencing delays. In RK Puram, the minimum temperature dropped to 7 degrees Celsius.
The airport area witnessed zero-meter visibility early in the morning, prompting Delhi airport to issue a fog alert the previous night. Travelers were advised to contact airlines for real-time updates on flight information. Online photos shared by passengers depicted a bustling yet stranded scene at the airport, with travelers anxiously awaiting their delayed flights.
Today’s data revealed that 25 flights were canceled, and an additional seven scheduled for tomorrow have also been scrapped. Airlines, including budget carrier IndiGo, cited “weather challenges” in northern India, warning of potential interruptions to flight schedules due to adverse weather conditions.
SpiceJet issued alerts, cautioning that departures/arrivals and subsequent flights may be affected by poor visibility in several cities, including Delhi, Amritsar, Jammu, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Patna, Bagdogra, and Darbhanga.
Meanwhile, in Chennai, the Pongal bonfire ritual contributed to reduced visibility, leading to the diversion of five inbound international flights to Hyderabad and the delay of 18 flights. The Chennai airport temporarily suspended landings for an hour in the morning.
Extensive fog coverage has been reported in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu division, Chandigarh, Assam, and south interior Karnataka. Moderate fog affected parts of Tripura, coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded zero visibility for the first time in Ganganagar, Patiala, Ambala, Chandigarh, Palam, Safdarjung, Bareilly, Lucknow, Bahraich, Varanasi, Prayagraj, and Tezpur.
In addition to the travel disruptions, the air quality in several areas of Delhi has deteriorated to the ‘severe’ category. The weather office has issued a red alert due to the cold and fog conditions, forecasting dense fog in Delhi until Tuesday.
Friday saw the season’s first cold wave day with the temperature dipping to 3.9 degrees Celsius. Saturday’s was coldest night as the temperature fell to season’s coldest at 3 degrees in Aya Nagar, the last village of Delhi on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road.
