Flight, rail ops hit as fog blankets Capital

A dense fog enveloped Delhi for a second straight morning on Tuesday, capping the visibility at just 50 metres from 5.30am to 10.30am and hampering the city's rail and flight operations.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

Weather authorities issued an "orange alert", predicting another spell of "dense" to "very dense" fog for Wednesday, with the transit chaos that has affected Delhi every morning for two days now likely to continue.

Local pollutants mingled with the thick fog, essentially draping the city in a suit of smog, with the air quality index (AQI) in the upper-end of the "very poor" zone again.

At the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport on Tuesday, over 50 flights between 6 am and noon were delayed, with 12 aircraft also being diverted during this period. "Eleven flights had to be diverted to Jaipur and one flight was sent to Lucknow. No diversions were reported afternoon," said an airport official.