Storm causes 32 flight diversions, 14 cancellations

The squall and rains, which brought relief to Delhiites, wrecked havoc at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday. On Sunday morning, 32 flights had to be diverted as pilots found it tough to land at the airport, thanks to the high crosswinds.

The squall and rains, which brought relief to Delhiites, wrecked havoc at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday. On Sunday morning, 32 flights had to be diverted as pilots found it tough to land at the airport, thanks to the high crosswinds. Such a high number of diversions is only witnessed during heavy fog days.

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Moreover, there were 14 cancellations, many go-arounds, huge number of delays and congestion at the airport. “There was acute air traffic congestion at the airport in the early hours of Sunday, thanks to the storm,” said the official of a full cost carrier who didn’t wish to be named. “Flights were being diverted to any airport where space was available and the congestion remained throughout the day,” he said. Passengers were a harried lot with delays ranging from one to four hours on average and cancellations. “Some international fliers protested at the T3 after their flights were delayed for hours and eventually cancelled,” said an airport official.

The Met department blamed the bad weather on western disturbances and pre-monsoon thunder squalls. “On Sunday, the wind was blowing at 60kmph. What was worse was that its direction was changing frequently, resulting in crosswind,” said R.K. Jenamani, Director-in-Charge, IGIA Met unit.

He said that pilots might face problems like lightening, icing, wind shear and gusts due to the prevalent weather. However, the strong wind movement and squalls are expected to decrease from Monday.