New Delhi: Dense fog continued to disrupt air traffic for third day on Wednesday in the national capital, hitting the schedule of over 130 domestic and international flights and causing inconvenience to travellers.
Poor visibility at the main (28/10) as well as third (29/11) runway halted the flight operations today also leading to delay in schedule of flights by upto three to four hours and cancellation of 34 departing and arriving flights.
The runway visibility was almost good at night and operations were smooth but it started to deteriorate after 6:30 AM and take-offs were suspended as runway visibility dropped to less than 125 metres, the required minimum for the low visibility take off (LVTO), an airport official said.
Planes arriving at Delhi airport were able to land using the CAT-III B instrument landing system (ILS), but it was also stopped as the visibility at the one end of the runway went below 50 metres at around 7.30 AM, the official said.
Since the take-offs were suspended after 6.30 AM, flights scheduled to depart after that were put on hold due to which schedules of around 130 domestic and international flights were delayed. Out of a total of 34, two departing flights from here were cancelled due to poor weather, while 14 were due to airline's operational reason.
Also, three flights arriving here were cancelled due to poor weather at Delhi, while 15 due to operational reasons, a statement from airport operator DIAL said. The Delhi airport is equipped with CAT-III B ILS on two runways, which helps a CAT-III B compliant plane to land when the runway visibility is up to 50 metres.
Airport officials said, there were no diversions of flights today, as airlines had scheduled the arrivals of the flights after 8 AM, after learning a lesson from diversions in last two days. On December 16, the airport witnessed winter's first fog.
Since then, flight operations are being hit due to the fog. Around 140 flights were delayed or diverted on that day. Yesterday, schedule of over 200 flights was hit.
