Dense fog grounds 118 flights at Delhi airport, operations hit

Flight operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport were disrupted on Tuesday, with a total of 118 flights cancelled due to dense fog across the national capital.

As per a PTI report citing officials, 60 arriving flights and 58 departing flights were cancelled, while 16 flights were diverted, underscoring continued operational challenges at the airport. Indira Gandhi International Airport, operated by Delhi International Airport Ltd, handles around 1,300 flight movements daily.

Data from flight tracking website Flightradar24, as cited by PTI, showed that 130 flights were delayed on Tuesday morning, with the average delay for departures estimated at around 28 minutes.

Delhi International Airport Ltd stated in a post on X that while flight operations were continuing, services that are not CAT III compliant could be impacted due to fog. CAT III compliance allows aircraft and pilots to operate in very low visibility conditions.

Against the backdrop of recurring fog-related disruptions, the civil aviation ministry informed that airlines have been instructed to strictly comply with passenger facilitation norms. These include timely updates on flight status, provision of meals to passengers during delays, rebooking or refunds in case of cancellations, no denial of boarding after timely check-in, baggage assistance and prompt grievance redressal.

Fog-related disruptions are common during the winter months at Delhi airport and often lead to cascading delays and cancellations across domestic and international flight networks.

The disruption came as Delhi woke up to a blanket of dense fog early on Tuesday, causing visibility to drop sharply in several areas, even as air quality improved marginally to the very poor category with an AQI reading of 388.

The India Meteorological Department issued a yellow alert for the city until 9 am in view of the fog. Visibility at Safdarjung stood at 100 metres at 7.30 am and improved to 200 metres by 8.30 am, while Palam reported moderate fog with visibility recorded at around 300 metres at 8.30 am, it added.

The Air Quality Index stood at 388 on Tuesday morning, marking a marginal improvement from Monday, when the city’s air quality was in the severe category with a reading of 401.

Data from the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app on Tuesday showed that 16 air quality monitoring stations were in the severe category, while 21 stations recorded air quality in the very poor category. Jahangirpuri and Anand Vihar registered the worst air quality, with AQI levels touching 451, the data showed.

According to CPCB classification standards, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51 to 100 satisfactory, 101 to 200 moderate, 201 to 300 poor, 301 to 400 very poor, and 401 to 500 severe.