Over 100 flights, trains affected as dense fog engulfs the capital
NEW DELHI: Over 100 flights were affected on Wednesday as thick fog enveloped large parts of north India, including Delhi, reducing visibility drastically across several states during the morning rush hour.
Officials said 81 trains were running late, 51 have been rescheduled and six have been cancelled due to poor visibility in Delhi.
Three flights were diverted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport due to the poor visibility on the runways, the officials added. Twenty-four flights were cancelled as visibility dipped around 5.30am. It remained poor till 10am but the flights equipped to operate in low visibility, were not affected.
“The fog season is likely to last till the second week of February. On an average there will be about 20-21 days of dense fog starting from second week of December,” said RK Jenamani, head of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Three runways at the IGI Airport; 28, 29 and 11 are certified for CAT III B operations, which allow landing of the compliant aircrafts with visibility as low as 50 metres. Aircrafts can take off with visibility of 125 metre.
The Meteorological department has also installed 30 equipments to study the pattern of fog. This is to understand different physical and chemical features of fog and factors responsible for its genesis, intensity and duration.
Of the 81 trains, 74 trains coming into the city from various parts of the country are delayed by two hours to 30 hours. The remaining seven trains, including Vikramshilla Express, Lichchavi Express, Neelanchal Express, Nandan Kanan Express, Kaifiyat Express, Magadh Express and Udyan Abha Toofan Express, are delayed by more than 20 hours.
Officials said 51 trains from Delhi have been rescheduled by 3 hours to 11 hours.
Last year, there were 22 days of dense fog during the winter.