Fog blanket on flight,train schedules

Following the heavy fog,Air India rescheduled two international flights,PTI reported. New York-bound AI-101 and AI-121 to Frankfurt (both non-stop flights) were rescheduled. The Frankfurt flight has been rescheduled for 11 am Thursday,Air India officials were quoted by the agency.

For officials at the IGI Airport,it wasn’t very different from how the day began,with only a couple of flights operating in low visibility conditions. Runway visibility went down to 50 metres and stayed much below 150 metres from 2 am to 11 am. To add to the backlog,Delhi’s airspace was shut for normal operations for an hour from 11.15 am for Republic Day rehearsals.

Several aircraft had to wait in queue for over two hours before they could take off due to deteriorating visibility levels. “As soon as a pilot was granted permission for take-off,visibility would almost suddenly drop below 150 metres,” an ATC official said.

As many as 150 flights were delayed due to fog on Wednesday. One domestic and six international flights had to be diverted to other domestic destinations.

Six domestic departures,three domestic arrivals and an international departure had to be cancelled,while four other flights were rescheduled.

Earlier,fog delayed a Dubai-bound Emirates flight,EK513,by over 15 hours. The flight was scheduled for at 4.15 am but could not take off due to low visibility conditions. Passengers and crew were offered hotel accommodation.

“Similar conditions are expected for the next four days,” IGI Met director R K Jenamani said.

FLIGHT HALTED
delayed 150
Diverted
7 (1 domestic,6 international)
Cancelled
6 domestic departures
3 domestic arrivals
1 international departure
Rescheduled 4

TRAIN-SPOTTING
Cancelled 20
Rescheduled 32
Late arrival
More than 30 (including most Rajdhani & Shatabdis)

Matchstick or box on board A-I flight?
It was high drama aboard an Air India flight on Wednesday when a crew member subjected passengers to rechecking after a matchstick was found on the aircraft before take off from IGI Airport.

Scheduled to depart at 2 pm,Air India flight IC853 to Bangkok finally took off at 4.55 pm. While Air India officials said a passenger had lit a cigarette,CISF officials said there was no matchbox in the aircraft,or with any passenger.

An Air India spokesperson said: “A passenger was found smoking,so the pilot ordered a recheck. In all probability,there was a lapse in checking by CISF,which allowed a passenger to enter with a matchbox.” But a senior CISF official said: “A crew member created panic — she found a matchstick in the aircraft and alleged that a passenger,identified as M Rehman,was carrying it. When the commander learnt about it,he informed the security agencies.” 

The CISF official said nothing was found on the passenger.