Dense fog plays spoilsport in Delhi

New Delhi: Delhiites on Monday witnessed dense fog for the second consecutive day with minimum temperature settling at 5.7 degree Celsius. However, the maximum temperature recorded was 23.9 degrees with a humidity of 100 percentage and nil rainfall, a MeT official said. 

Veteran actor Anupam Kher said the dense fog in Delhi played spoilsport with his flight schedule on Monday. “There is utter chaos at Delhi airport. People are running nowhere. Flights are either getting delayed by hours or completely cancelled. I changed, preponed, postponed two airline bookings. Finally, in flight after three hours. Jai Ho. Fog ke side effects,” Anupam tweeted. A thick blanket of fog engulfed the national capital and its suburbs on New Year Day, hitting domestic and international operations at the Delhi airport and delaying departing and arriving trains.

On Sunday, over 150 flights were delayed, nearly 50 diverted and an estimated 20 were cancelled as season’s ‘worst’ fog reduced visibility to 50 metres at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here. According to MeT department, the national capital will witness dense fog on Tuesday too and it would become moderate the next day. Yesterday, the minimum temperature settled at 6.4 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal.

Take-offs from the IGI Airport require a minimum visibility range of 125 metres. However, as Delhi airport has advanced technology for low-visibility landings, called the CAT IIIB system (short for category three), aircraft qualified to land in visibility of 25-50 metres could arrive.

There were, however, nearly 50 diversions to nearby airports as many pilots deployed by airlines were not trained in CAT IIIB instrument landing system, said a person familiar with the matter, on the condition of anonymity.

An official from the Met department termed it the “worst” fog of the season. While visibility improved to 2,000 metres later in the day and operations were restored to normal, there were consequential delays throughout the day and a waiting time of up to six hours was common.Many took to Twitter to share pictures of the overcrowded domestic terminal where passengers could be seen sitting on floors and occupying staircases.