Fog disrupts flights, conditions likely to remain same today

It is turning out to be a freaky February with rains bringing back the chill and fog making a comeback at the airport. HT reports.

It is turning out to be a freaky February with rains bringing back the chill and fog making a comeback at the airport.

HT Image

Dense fog once again disrupted flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday.

Even though fog led to flight delays in the morning, there were no cancellations or diversions. The airport had faced severe disruptions on Thursday when 14 flights had to be diverted.

Fog descended at the airport around 3am on Friday and at 3.32am, Low Visibility Procedures (LVP) had to be implemented at Runway 29. At the main Runway 28, visibility dipped later and LVP was implemented at 5.38am.

The worse period was between 6am and 8.40am when visibility went below 50 metres and flight operations came to a standstill. As many morning flight couldn't take off on time, there was cascading effect on departures later in the day.

Visibility improved only by 10.40am, after which LVP was lifted. There were 153 flight movements during the LVP period using various categories of the Instrument Landing System (ILS), which guides pilots to land in poor visibility. Six of these landings were made using the CAT IIIB ILS, which functions if the visibility is up to 125 metres.

The Met department has predicted similar foggy conditions for Saturday morning. The weatherman said that dense fog, unusual for this time of the year, has made a return due to western disturbance over Delhi.