Flight operations hit as Chennai

Flight operations hit as Chennai
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

CHENNAI, JAN 13: Flight operations at Chennai airport were affected this morning due to poor visibility caused by bonfires on the occasion of `bhogi' festival, airport sources said.

Departure of almost all early morning flights were delayed as a "smog type of fog" induced by the presence of soot in the atmosphere reduced visibility to as low as 300 metres at 6 am, Airport Meterological Director Dr N Jayanthi said.

A visibility minima of 800 metres is required for a safe take-off of flights, airport sources said.

The soot was caused by people burning old clothes, paper and tyres as part of tradition on the occasion of Bhogi festival, which marks the beginning of the Pongal festival.

Jayanthi said the situation became conducive for the smog type of fog as the soot had an impact on the atmosphere which was already marked by high stability and light wind conditions and high humidity, a feature of the current season.

The flights that were delayed included the Indian Airlines Airbus 300 and Jet Airways flight on Chennai-Delhi sector.

The IA flight, which was scheduled to leave at 6.40 am, left at 9.15 am, and the Jet flight was delayed by 165 minutes.

Suburban train services also operated at a lower speed for about two hours in the morning due to poor visibility.

Flight schedule disrupted due to fog

New Delhi:AN early morning dense fog forced the authorities to close down the Delhi Airport for over six hours though the operations, especially bulk of the international flight schedule, were normal during the night, Airports Authority of India (AAI) said here.

"There was no flight operation between 4:25 am to 10:42 am as the Runway Visibility Range (RVR) came down to as low as 75 metres due to dense fog," AAI officials said.

While the last international flight from Frankfurt landed here at 1:14 am, the last international flight to Paris left at 4:02 am, after which the airport was engulfed in the thick blanket of fog.

For the past few days, the airport functioning was severely hit for several hours as a thick blanket of fog engulfed the Capital.

Meanwhile, icy cold waves continued to lash across the city.