Dense fog continue to hit flight operations at the IGI airport and train services for the second consecutive day on Thursday. Most of the domestic or international flights could not take off nor arrive at the airport since Wednesday night, when fog descended. Schedules of around 80 domestic and international flights were disrupted.
"Since last night 27 domestic and international flights were diverted, 18 were cancelled and around 20 have been rescheduled as thick fog blanketed the airport reducing the runway visibility to 150 metres or less," an airport official said.
Most of the morning flights were delayed by over two to three hours while a few operated using the CAT-III B instrument landing system.
Five flights of Air India took off using Category Instrument Landing System. These included a flight to Kabul as well as to Mumbai, Nagpur and Chennai.
Air India 101, non-stop flight to New York, and Air India 121 to Frankfurt, which were scheduled for last night, will depart at 1100 hours.
Fog started to descend over the airport Wednesday night around 8 pm reducing the general visibility to around 50 metres and within half an hour the general visibility dropped to zero while runway visibility to a low of 100 metres, forcing the airport authorities to divert some domestic and international flights.
Since Wednesday night, 236 domestic and international flights at Delhi airport have been affected due to fog. On Thursday morning, 66 domestic flights were affected, out of which 27 were delayed, 18 flights cancelled and 21 flights rescheduled. 11 International flights arrivals were delayed while 10 international flights departures were delayed too.
The runway visibility remained around 150 metres throughout the night due to which international flights, which were scheduled to depart last night and early this morning, were worst hit, the official said.
Long traffic jams were noticed due to fog between ITO and ISBT, Pusa Road, New Rohtak Road, Azad Market, Netaji Subhas Marg, Nizamuddin, Moti Bagh, Dhaula Kuan, India Gate and Tilak Marg.
More than 100 trains originating from Delhi or scheduled to arrive in Delhi are running late, Northern Railway sources said. Passengers whose trains have been delayed by more than 3 hours can take their refunds from any station, says the PRO of Northern Railway.
Patna Rajdhani Express which was to leave at 17.10 hrs on Wednesday was rescheduled to leave New Delhi at 11.30 am on Thursday. Puri-bound Purushottam Express which was to leave on Wednesday at 22.20 hrs has been rescheduled to leave at 13.00 hours on Thursday. Puri Express which was to leave at 06.30 hrs on Thursday has been rescheduled to leave at 12.50 hrs. Shaan-e-Punjab Express will depart with a delay of three hours. Lichhavi Express, Poorva Express and Mahabodhi Express will remain cancelled till January 31.
In all 3 trains have been cancelled, 17 trains rescheduled and 30 trains running four to 28 hours late, the spokesperson said.
