The unexpected fog cover on Saturday sent travel plans of many into disarray as several flights at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were affected by the low visibility. The visibility dipped to 300 metres at 9 am spelling trouble for take off and landing of flights.

As many as 30 flights to and from Delhi were delayed with the time ranging between 30 minutes to one hour, airport officials said. The Met department official, meanwhile, said no dense fog is expected in coming days but smog will continue as there is no speed in the wind.

“The fog was there from 5 am to 8.30 am and the visibility started decreasing at 9 am. The normal visibility was 300 metres and Runway Visibility Range (RVR) was 700 metre from 9 am to 11 am. We had a meeting to assess the situation and various issues like increasing pollution, lack of wind and Jaipur fire were discussed in the meeting,” an official IGI Met department said.

Earlier, in the first week of October, almost 30 flights were affected, as the month witnessed the first-ever fog since 1984.

Airport officials claim more flights are likely of be affected this year due to fog and unavailability of CAT-III trained pilots.

“Combination of CAT-III trained pilot, CAT-III equipped aircraft and Instrument Landing System (ILS) is required to carry operations in the near zero visibility,” an official said.

Delhi International Airport Limited is, however, taking steps including setting up of additional customer service staff inside and outside the terminals to assist the passengers during winters and installation of extensive flight information displays to know the flight status.

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