10 flights diverted at Delhi airport as dense fog envelops capital

The flight diversions in the national capital occurred as a dense layer of smog enveloped Delhi and surrounding regions, including Noida, Ghaziabad, and Gurugram, on Wednesday morning

As many as ten flights were diverted, and many were delayed at the Delhi airport on Wednesday as poor visibility conditions impacted operations, officials said.

 

Nine flights were diverted to Jaipur airport, and one was diverted to Lucknow between 6 am and 12 noon, according to Flightradar24.com, a website tracking aircraft movements. The affected flights included those from carriers such as Akasa Air, Air India, and SpiceJet.

 

These flight diversions in the national capital occurred as a dense layer of smog enveloped Delhi and surrounding regions, including Noida, Ghaziabad, and Gurugram.

 

Delhi recorded the country's worst air quality on Wednesday as it turned 'severe' for the first time this season, with the AQI soaring to 418.

   

Zero-metre visibility was reported at Indira Gandhi International Airport at 8:30 am, with the runway visual range varying between 125 and 500 metres at different locations, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

 

“While landings and take-offs continue at Delhi airport, flights that are not Category (CAT) III compliant may be affected. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information,” the Delhi airport said in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

 

Category (CAT) III B is an advanced instrument approach that enables aircraft to land in low visibility conditions.

 

The airport did not respond to a request for a comment from Business Standard till press time.

 

In CAT III B, the visibility for landing and take-off ranges from 50 to 174 metres, while for CAT III A, the visibility ranges between 175 and 299 metres.

 

In October, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) raised an alert for carriers using Boeing 737 planes by temporarily barring them from performing low visibility CAT III B landings.

 

In India, SpiceJet, Air India, Air India Express, and Akasa Air have Boeing 737 planes in their fleet.

 

The move came after the aviation regulator's directive to Indian carriers to conduct safety risk assessments of their Boeing 737 aircraft equipped with Collins Aerospace’s rudder control system.

 

The regulator acted after taking note of an investigation report by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which highlighted safety concerns about Boeing 737 planes fitted with “Collins Aerospace SVO-730 Rudder Rollout Guidance Actuators.”