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Fog hung heavy over Indian skies for a third day on Tuesday, disrupting air travel and prompting the government to step in.
The civil aviation ministry directed six metro airports to set up war rooms and report incidents three times a day. The directive to airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai comes after flight delays, diversions and cancellations botched travel plans and frayed tempers.
“We have sought incidence reporting thrice daily for all the six metro airports. The implementation of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s directives, standard operating procedures and civil aviation requirements will be monitored and reported regularly,” Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said.
The six airports and the airlines there must set up war rooms to quickly address issues regarding passenger inconvenience, the minister said. “Sufficient Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) manpower availability will be ensured round-the-clock,” he added.
Tuesday’s government action came after a passenger in Delhi on Sunday assaulted a pilot over a 13-hour delay, and others at the Mumbai airport dined on the tarmac close to a plane. The passenger who assaulted the IndiGo pilot was arrested and let off on bail, while the airline took steps to put him on a no-fly list.
Separately, the civil aviation ministry issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo and the Mumbai airport after a video of passengers eating on the tarmac surfaced. The notice cited violation of Rule 51 of the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023, regarding failure to observe security procedures.
“Both IndiGo and the Mumbai International Airport were not proactive in anticipating the situation and in making appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport,” an official aware of the development said. “In the case of both notices, the ministry has asked for replies by 16 January. If replies are not received in the given time, then enforcement action including financial penalty will be initiated,” the official added. IndiGo said it has initiated an internal enquiry and will also respond to the notice.
An Air India flight from Kozhikode to Mumbai was delayed by more than 12 hours—from 6.50pm on Sunday to 8.30am on Monday.
“It was a nightmare. First, we were told our flight has been rescheduled to 9.55pm and later around 10-10.30pm. After asking the staff multiple times, they told us that it will now take off tomorrow at 7.35am. To top it all, we were made to wait at the airport since 4pm, and were told to leave the airport premises without giving any assurance about our accommodation for the night. We really had to put our foot down to get the accommodation, even then it was not provided to all,” passenger Anshika Verma told PTI.
Many vented their ire on X. Visuals of long queues at airports, some sitting or lying on the floor waiting for updates on their flight status, appeared on social media platforms.
Meanwhile, the Delhi airport, India’s largest and busiest with 1,400-1,500 daily flights, on Tuesday made its 29L runway fully operational for CAT III flight operations. In aviation, Category III, or CAT III, refers to a type of automated system that facilitates landing in very low visibility conditions.
While a runway can be approached from two ends, only one end of the 29L runway was CAT III-compliant so far, allowing planes to land with a runway visual range less than 200m but not less than 50m. On Tuesday, this runway was made fully CAT III-compliant. The airport’s main CAT III-compliant runway 28/10 is yet to return to service.
“Operationalization of RWY 28/10 as CAT III at Delhi Airport after re-carpeting will also be undertaken,” Scindia said.
On Tuesday, the government’s weather office warned that fog may affect some airports, highways and railway routes in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, north Rajasthan and north Madhya Pradesh.
Broadly, fog-induced disruptions eased on Tuesday, and the Delhi airport reported no flight diversions. However, more than 100-120 flights still faced delays at the airport. On an average, an aircraft completes around four flights a day. Hence, a delay at any point causes a domino effect, and impacts departures and arrivals for other destinations over the day.
“Air India regrets the disruption to operations arising from the last few days’ dense fog in North India, including at our main Delhi hub, which resulted in some diversions and desynchronization of aircraft and crew rotations. We are working hard to restore schedules, and sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers,” the Tata group-owned airline said in a statement.
Latest data for 15 January showed dismal levels of punctuality. IndiGo reported on-time performance of 22.1% (against 21% on 14 January), Air India 18.6% (against 46.8%), SpiceJet 42.7% (against 51.8%), Vistara 54.3% (against 29.6%), AIX Connect 31.3% (against 30.2% and Akasa Air 66.2% (against 41.8%).
With inputs from PTI.
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Published: 16 Jan 2024, 03:50 PM IST
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