New Delhi, Jan 14: Operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here today went haywire after dense fog brought the services to a standstill for about one-and-a-half hours affecting the schedule of over 150 flights, including that of External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
Khurshid's flight, which was to take-off from Palam Technical area for Bhutan around 9.30 AM, was delayed by two hours as it was caught in dense fog, sources said.
Flight operations at the airport came to a standstill for around one-and-half hours, between 5 AM and 6.30 AM, as the runway visibility was less than 50 metres on both the runways, main (28/10) and third (29/11), airport sources said.
Around 130 domestic and international flights were delayed by over three to four hours after dense fog enveloped the airport and visibility become poor.
Also 20 domestic and international flights arriving were diverted to other cities as the visibility was less than 50 metres, which is the minimum required visibility for a flight to land using the most advanced Category III B (CAT-IIIB) of the instrument landing system.
According to sources, these flights were diverted as either their crew was not trained to operate in CAT-IIIB conditions or their aircraft were not CAT-IIIB compliant.
“This is in violation of clear cut instructions by the Director General of Civil Aviation to deploy CAT-IIIB compliant aircraft and pilots during the fog season,” they said.
