New Delhi:
After the first thick fog of the season and a cable fault played havoc with flight operations in and out of Delhi through Saturday, the MeT forecast predicts that foggy conditions are likely to prevail beyond the next 24 hours.
At midnight, details of affected flights were as follows:
- Domestic: 15 flights delayed, 1 diverted, 11 cancelled
- International: 10 flights delayed, 1 diverted, 3 cancelled
For information on flight status, please call the airport helpline 0124-3376000 or log on to http://newdelhiairport.in/flight.asp
The Meteorological Department has, meanwhile, forecasted foggy conditions are beyond the next 24 hours as well.
On Saturday, over 200 domestic flights were delayed, 14 cancelled and 17 international services diverted to some other cities. Fog enveloped IGI Airport between till 2 pm. As a result, visibility dropped to 50 metres and runway visibility to around 100 metres, necessitating implementation of Category III-B instrument landing system operations (ILS). However, a major glitch occurred in the cables connected to the RVR instrument at around 2 am.
No flights could be operated, despite having two CAT-IIIB compliant runways, the Civil Aviation regulatory body, the DGCA, said in a statement. Flight operations resumed by 10:30 am. With runway visibility improving by mid-day to 800 metres, flights were resumed using two main runways. The DGCA called an emergency meeting of the Director of MeT department, Chairman of Airports Authority of India, senior Air Traffic Control officials and DIAL.
The DGCA said that the RVR equipment for runway 11 (new runway) has now become operational with standby radio link. Engineers and MeT officials would be available round the clock for proper functioning of radio link system. Also, a standby system for making RVR equipment for runway 10 (main runway) operational was being airlifted from Pune by the first available flight and it would be made operational within 24 hours.
"For future, standard operating procedures would be developed for maintenance of MeT cables by airport operators and DIAL in particular for IGI Airport," the DGCA said, adding that the Met department would provide one spare RVR equipment for IGI Airport.
According to Delhi International Airport Limited, 126 flights operated using Category 1 (CAT-I) ILS while 33 used Category 2 (CAT-II) systems.