250 flights delayed, people stuck as fog hits IGI airport
Passengers had a harrowing time either waiting at the terminals or sitting inside the aircraft waiting for the green signal to take off, reports Sidhartha Roy.
At least 250 flights were delayed and hundreds of passengers stranded as dense fog blinded the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday. The airport was shut for almost three hours.
Morning flights were delayed by one to four hours and this had a cascading effect on evening flights, which were held up for up to five hours. Passengers had a harrowing time — either waiting at the terminals or sitting inside the aircraft waiting for the green signal to take off.
A Met department official said, “Visibility dropped below 50 metres and Runway Visual Range (RVR) dropped from 1,000 metres to 150 metres at 6.21 am.” The RVR and visibility improved only after 10.30 am.
“I reached Delhi airport at 4 am to take the 6 am JetLite flight to Lucknow. After sitting for an hour inside the plane, I was told at 8.30 am that it has been cancelled,” said RK Sharma, a passenger.
NRI Pranav Thakur was booked into a 11 am Mumbai-bound flight. “I had to wait for a total of four hours, first in the terminal and then inside the aircraft. All my plans for the day is ruined,” he said in sheer disgust. The list of stranded passengers included politicians LK Advani, N Chandrababu Naidu, Om Prakash Chautala and actor Amitabh Bachchan.