Fog, Republic Day drill lead to chaos at Delhi airport; at least 600 flights affected

Officials say problem could continue in January 26 run-up.

At least 600 flights were delayed, diverted, rescheduled or cancelled on Friday as a dense blanket of fog and a 100-minute closure of the airspace for Republic Day rehearsals threw air traffic out of gear at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and stranded thousands of passengers for hours at a stretch.

Arrivals and departures were first affected between 5:30am and 9:30am before the airspace was closed from 10:35am to 12:15pm as part of the Republic Day drill, airport officials said. Passengers reported being stuck after boarding their flights, some of which were delayed by as long as seven hours.

“This was the first very dense spell of fog in January so far. Usually, the month has at least 8-10 days of dense to very dense fog. Light winds, clear sky and high moisture in air created conditions for very dense fog,” a Met department official said.

An airport official confirmed the airspace’s closure after the fog had lifted. “The airspace was closed between 10:35 am and 12:15 pm on Friday and similar curbs will be in place on January 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26,” said the official, who didn’t want to be named.

According to Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the visibility in all three runways was below 200 metres for most of the morning, at times even dropping below 50metres.

Planes equipped with landing aids can operate when visibility is in the 75-125 metre range. If it falls below 75 metres, operations are usually suspended.

GB Singh, a security professional, said he was stranded for more than six hours in a SpiceJet flight headed to Dubai. “Initially they said there was a delay of 20 minutes. They did not allow us to step outside...” A spokesperson for SpiceJet said flight, SG 11 was initially delayed due to the fog and later due to the airspace closure that led to severe congestion.

Another passenger, who was on an IndiGo flight to Guwahati, waited in the aircraft for two hours before all passengers were let back into the terminal, his son said while waiting outside the airport. The flight eventually left four hours late.

According to airport officials who asked not to be named, passengers of several flights had to wait it out in the aircraft since the delays led to a shortage of parking bays.

“Due to adverse weather conditions (fog) at #Bengaluru and #Delhi, some of our flights have been affected,” Jet Airways tweeted. Vistara Airlines too said in a tweet that its operations had been affected. “Due to dense fog and poor visibility in Delhi, delays are expected for both arrivals and departures with likely consequential impact on flights across the network,” it said in a post at 8:30am.

Indira Gandhi International Airport is the busiest in the country, with at least 70 flights arriving or departing every hour on average.

Apart from flights, ten trains to the capital were also running late by at least six to two hours on Friday due to fog and low visibility. Purushottam Express from Odisha’s Puri was running six hours behind schedule and Mahabodhi Express from Bihar’s Gaya was reported to be five hours late.

In addition to the Republic Day rehearsal disruptions, fog-related problems are likely to continue for commuters over the next few days.