Delhi: 9 flights diverted due to fog, low visibility at IGI airport

Mumbai: As many as nine flights of various airlines were diverted on Friday due to low visibility and fog that engulfed the Delhi airport for about two hours in the morning, an official said.

Delhi airport is CAT IIIB compliant, where flights can land in visibility as low as 50 metre. However, the diversions on Friday were on account of non-compliant aircraft and flights crew, low-fuel and ATC congestion, the Delhi airport official said.

All the diversions took place between 8.30 am and 10 am, the official said, adding after that the visibility improved. As per the DGCA norms, airlines are required to deploy only CAT-IIIB compliant planes as well as trained crew for operations in dense fog during winter.

Of the nine flights that were diverted out of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), three flights each were of SpiceJet and GoAir, while two were of Air India. An IndiGo flight was also diverted during the period, the official said. He, however, did not give the details of the airports where these flights were diverted to.

Most of the airlines had informed passengers through social media on the possible impact of the weather conditions around Delhi airport. "Due to bad weather conditions at #Delhi flights to & from DEL may get delayed," GoAir tweeted.

"Due to fog and low visibility at #Delhi airport, flight departures and arrivals might be impacted," IndiGo tweeted to its passengers flying in or out of the Delhi airport.

SpiceJet, in its tweet said, "Due to bad weather (low visibility) at Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights might get affected. The passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status."