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NEW DELHI: Delhiites woke up to winter’s first dense fog on Monday, with visibility dropping to zero in the city. There was havoc at Delhi airport as departures remained suspended for nearly five hours from 4am to 9am when visibility was below 100m.As many as 228 flights – 131 departures, 97 arrivals – were cancelled, over 800 delayed and five diverted to other airports, officials said. The ripple effect of delays continued long after the fog cleared around noon. At least 100 trains were running late.Safdarjung records zero visibility at 12.30am, things look up after 9amThe civil aviation ministry said dense fog conditions impacted flight operations at several airports in north India.According to India Meteorological Department, visibility began to dip sharply from Sunday night. “It dropped to 150 metres at 11.30pm. By 12.30am Monday, there was zero visibility at Safdarjung, the city’s base station. This continued till 2am and improved marginally to 100m by 2.30am. At Palam, the lowest visibility recorded was 50m at 4am,” an official said.Visibility started improving after 9am, touching 300m at Safdarjung by 9.30am and 700m by 10.30am, with the sun making an appearance. At Palam, visibility improved from 100m at 9am to 300m by 10.30am, and to 500m by noon.Flight operations were severely impacted at IGI Airport from 4am, when visibility dropped to 50m and low-visibility procedures were initiated. According to live flight tracking website Flightradar24, 260 arrivals and 400 departures were delayed till Monday evening. “Some flights arrived late at IGI due to weather conditions at the origin airport. Since they came late, these flights departed late,” said an airport official.Airport officials said pilots who are trained in CAT III procedures can make an aircraft land with a minimum visibility of 50m, while an aircraft can take off at a minimum visibility of 125m. “However, pilots who are not trained in CAT-III procedures wait at the taxiway after all formalities such as boarding are completed and take off when they get clearance as they need visibility of around 500m. This causes major flight delays,” an airport official said earlier.Apart from Delhi, flight operations were hit in many parts of north India. The civil aviation ministry posted on X, “In view of the prevailing situation, certain flights may be delayed, diverted or cancelled. Passengers are advised to stay in touch with their airlines for real-time flight updates, regularly check airport and airline websites/apps, and plan for additional travel time.”IndiGo, in a statement, said low visibility (below minima), due to dense fog, severely impacted operations at Delhi and other airports in northern India, “which is unfortunately beyond our control”. “While operations adjust to the prevailing weather, some flights may experience delays while a few others may be proactively cancelled through the day to prioritise safety and help minimise extended waiting at the airport,” said IndiGo.Air India said poor visibility due to dense fog hit operations of all airlines. “In the interest of safety and to avoid prolonged uncertainty, some flights have been cancelled,” it said on X.The civil aviation ministry said, “The Director General Civil Aviation has reviewed preparedness for fog conditions. Officers should monitor passenger inconvenience and ensure that airlines are facilitating operations and discharging responsibilities as per their respective SOPs and any directions issued.”
