Delhi fog delays 40 flights in Mumbai

MUMBAI: There was chaos at the Mumbai airport on Monday as flights were delayed by more than an hour due to the inclement weather in Delhi. Heavy fog coupled with poor visibility hit aircraft operations in the capital, which, in turn, affected flight schedules across the country, especially those to/from Mumbai.A total of 28 arrivals to Mumbai and 22 departures were delayed by over an hour, said an airport source. A total of five departures and four arrivals to/from Delhi were cancelled.This was the first fog-induced delay of the season and its effects hit thousands of flyers across the country. Among the flights arriving late from Delhi were Jet Airways 9W 302, which was scheduled to land at 12.10pm, but landed at 1.34pm;Spice Jet SG 109, which was to land at 12.15pm, but did so two hours later; and IndiGo's 6E 177's 1.50pm landing was postponed to 2.45pm.In Delhi, more than 40 flights were affected due to dense fog and poor weather conditions since Sunday night. Operations on runway 29 were suspended and flight operations hit during a large part of the morning. "Early morning flights that were to land in Delhi were instructed to join a hold-over pattern as visibility on the runway dropped to less than 50m, the minimum visibility range required for a CAT III B operations," said a source from the Delhi airport."India is not the worst affected in terms of climate and weather. Delhi fog is an annual occurrence and yet it hits flight schedules greatly. More and more airlines need to have CAT III-enabled aircraft and pilots. Though on Monday, for a while, the visibility fell below the minimum required for CAT III operations, our flight schedules would not have been disrupted so much had they trained enough pilots for CAT III flights," said Ajay Prakash, former president of Travel Agents Federation of India and chief executive of Nomad Travels. "Why are we in the same situation every year? Why is the aviation regulator not looking into this?"In Delhi, more than 40 flights were affected because of the dense fog and poor weather conditions since Sunday night. Operations on its runway 29 were suspended and flight operations were hit during a large part of the morning. "Early morning flights that came into land at Delhi were instructed to join a hold-over pattern as the visibility on the runway dropped to less than 50m, the minimum visibility range required for a CAT III B operations. So even CAT III B aircraft, pilots were hit," said a Delhi airport source. "It is not possible to hold over an airport for a long period of time because of fuel restrictions, hence, pilots have to divert to alternative airports,'' said a commander.