Over 300 Flights Were Delayed at IGI Airport in the 2 Hours Between 6 AM and 8 AM

Over 300 Flights Were Delayed at IGI Airport in the 2 Hours Between 6 AM and 8 AM

- HT Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Delhi woke up to a thick blanket of fog on Thursday, as visibility dropped to zero in the morning, disrupting flights, trains and vehicular traffic across the region, marking one of the most challenging mornings of the winter so far.

More than 300 flights coming in and out of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport were delayed on account of the "very dense" fog engulfing the area around the airport for two hours between 6 am to 8 am.

Officials, however, said that no diversion or cancellation of flights was reported as the fog cleared up by early afternoon.

The average delay for a flight was reported around 18 minutes, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

The sharp drop in visibility also impacted trains coming into Delhi. Northern Railways said at least 43 trains were delayed due to poor visibility.

On the roads, drivers faced challenging conditions as visibility dropped sharply, impacting traffic flow in the early hours of the across NCR.

Scientists at India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded visibility at Palam plummeting below 200 meters by 5.30 am.

In the next half-an-hour, it dropped even further, touching zero by 6 am, where it remained for two hours. It finally started improving around 8 am, IMD officials said.

Under IMD's classification, visibility below 200 meters is considered as "dense" fog, and below 50 meters is considered "very dense" fog.

RK Jenamani, scientist at IMD, said that at the airport, CAT 2 and CAT 3 procedures were initiated, allowing planes to operate during low visibility.