Fliers wait for the sun, avoid foggy encounter

To beat the irritation of delays caused due to dense fog, weary fliers in the Mumbai-Delhi sector have chosen to amend their travel schedule.

With the onset of winter, fog in and around Delhi has invariably led to delays in the morning as well as evening flights.

Following this, many fliers, some of them frequent, have had to bear with the agony of either being stuck in the aircraft for an unannounced period of time or being diverted to a third destination.

Fliers now prefer to book themselves on afternoon flights. “Since there is uncertainty of timing in the morning and evening flights due to fog, I took one in the afternoon,” said Haricharan Kulkarni, 31, a Mumbai-based software engineer who reached Delhi by a Kingfisher flight on Thursday.

At least 20-30% passengers on this route have shifted to taking mid-day flights. According to Neelu Singh, chief operating officer, Ezeego1, the travel portal has seen at least 20% fliers opting for a late morning or an afternoon flight.

Interestingly, flights from 6am to 10am and those after 7pm are seeing minimal bookings since the end of December 2009. “Since mid-December, we have seen almost 30% passengers booking themselves on flights scheduled between 11am and 7pm,” said Rajesh Rateria, a travel agent.

Most of these travellers are the ones who have morning business meetings. “But they are now going to Delhi a day in advance,” said Anil Srinivasan, chief operating officer, Visa & Passport services and Sri Lanka operations, Thomas Cook.

After 7pm flights are a strict no for these travellers. “I would better cancel my 9.30pm flight to Delhi and go the next day,” said Arjun Singh, 36, a media consultant from Delhi. 

“The flight may or may not take off on time. But there are chances it may get diverted to Jaipur or Ahmedabad. I would not like to spend my night there.”

However, leisure travellers say they  have not been affected by the delays caused due to fog.