Dense fog in Delhi hits flight ops for third consecutive day

By Express Web Desk, New Delhi, Jan 5 (Indian Express): Most of North India grappled with dense fog conditions for a third consecutive day, causing widespread disruption in air and rail services. About 200 flights arriving or departing from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport have been delayed and 10 cancelled.

According to the flight tracking website Flightradar24, 59 arriving flights have been delayed and 4 have been cancelled. Meanwhile, 138 departing flights have been delayed and 6 cancelled.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), very dense fog was reported in Palam since 11:30 pm on Saturday. The visibility was zero for 3.5 hours at Palam today (4 am-7:30 am), better than the 9-hour spell on Friday. As the wind speed picked up, visibility improved slightly at Palam at 8 am.

Safdarjung reported minimum visibility of 50 m as calm winds (4 kmph) prevailed at 5:30 am. This further improved becoming 100 m at 7:30 am.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport issued an advisory for passengers that operations have been impacted due to fog. “Low visibility procedures are still in progress at Delhi Airport. However, there has been no impact on flight operations. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information,” the advisory read.

Passengers were stranded at New Delhi Railway Station as several trains were delayed due to dense fog conditions, news agency PTI reported.

Delhi is expected to witness intense fog till January 8, with light rain likely on January 6, according to the IMD.

Not only Delhi, but airport stations across parts of India reported visibility less than 200 m early Sunday. While Gwalior airport in West Madhya Pradesh reported zero visibility as of 7:30 am, Gorakhpur and Kushinagar airport in East Uttar Pradesh recorded visibility in the range of 0 to 50 m, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Airport stations including that of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir; Dum Dum in West Bengal; Rourkela in Odisha; Amritsar in Punjab; Patna in Bihar; Lucknow, Prayagraj and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh reported visibility of 200 metres early today.

The IMD has also forecast heavy snowfall over Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. The weather department said cold wave conditions are likely to persist in parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Telangana and north Karnataka.

Where else flight operations have been impacted?

As many as 11 flights scheduled to depart from Chandigarh to various destinations were cancelled due to bad weather. Two flights from Chandigarh to Mumbai and Delhi on Sunday were also cancelled.

The cancelled flights included those to Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Leh, Chennai, Kolkata, Srinagar, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune, and Hyderabad.