At least 82 flights, were delayed and 10 others cancelled while 50 Delhi-bound trains were running late as the worst fog spell in the last two years hit the capital.
NEW DELHI: At least 82 flights, including 26 of international carriers, were on Tuesday delayed and 10 others cancelled while 50 Delhi-bound trains were running late as the worst fog spell in the last two years hit the capital.
Most of the morning flights could not take off from Delhi as general visibility fell below 50 metres and runway visibility range (RVR) was fluctuating between 75 m and 125 m, which are below the 150m RVR required for an aircraft to take off, sources at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) said.
Director in-charge of the Met department at IGI airport, R K Jenamani said, "It is the worst fog spell in the last two years since 2006 when similar conditions were experienced from December 31 night to Jan 2 where the RVR dipped below 125 m."
Since the wind is calm and moisture is high, the fog condition will not improve significantly tonight, he said. The fog will redevelop at around 3 am and continue till Wednesday morning, he said.
The minimum temperature in the capital slipped to eight degrees Celsius from Monday's minimum of 8.4 degrees, the Met department said. Monday's maximum temperature was recorded at 20.8 degree Celsius, one degree less than the normal at this point of the season.
Northern Railway officials said that while incoming trains were delayed by up to six hours, efforts were on to ensure that no train originating from Delhi is cancelled. Minimum rescheduling will be done, they said.
No international flights could take off from 1.30 am when the visibility began to fall till 6 am. Flight operations began resuming from 10.30 am when the visibility improved.
Only one international and two domestic flights took off between 6 am to 10 am, the sources said, adding that three international and nine domestic flights, however, landed using the sophisticated CAT-III A/B landing system. The last international flight arrived here at 7.30 am.
Delay in departure is causing a huge backlog at the airport throwing the flights schedule haywire and causing inconvenience to the passengers, who complained of airlines not informing them about the change of schedules as also non-functioning of toilets and lack of other amenities.
Over 200 flights were delayed and 19 cancelled as a heavy blanket of fog surrounded the capital yesterday.
Meanwhile, railway officials said some of the trains delayed include Avad Assam, Kafiyat Express, Rajindernagar Rajdhani, Howrah Rajdhani, Magadh Express, Kashi Vishwanath, Lucknow Mail, North East Express, Jansadharan, Sampoorna Kranti and Furakka Express.
Other late arriving trains are Rajdhanis from Seldah and Bhubaneswar. The Shramjeevi Express from Rajgir was running late by more than five hours and the Shivganga Express from Varanasi and Jansadharan Express from Rajendra Nagar (Patna) were running late by more than three hours.
The Northeast Express from Guwahati was running 18 hours behind schedule. Similarly, the Kasi Viswanath Express from Varanasi was running 10 hours behind schedule, they said.
On Monday, the fog had let to disruption in the movement of around 90 trains, while the departure of 15 trains were rescheduled.
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