IndiGo flight diverted to Raipur amid poor visibility

Patna: A Patna-bound IndiGo flight from Delhi (6E-2373) was diverted mid-air to Raipur (RPR) on Tuesday morning owing to poor visibility caused by dense fog and overcast skies. The foggy conditions led to significant delays for multiple incoming flights and had a cascading effect on outgoing operations, affecting as many as 22 arrivals and 25 departures.

Four other IndiGo flights, all scheduled during night hours, were cancelled at Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport in Patna due to persistent fog. The cancellations included two flights to Delhi (6E-5008/2309, 6E-6549/6550), and one each to Hyderabad (6E-915/6683) and Mumbai (6E-673/5152), adding to the disruptions caused by adverse winter weather.


The first flight to successfully land amid the fog was Air India flight AI-1749 from Delhi, which touched down at 11.43am — over two hours later than its scheduled 9:40 am arrival — marking the resumption of landings after initial weather-related restrictions. Airport officials attributed the disruptions to seasonal dense fog common in Bihar, which forced holding patterns and delayed landings for safety reasons.

Several airlines issued fog advisories, urging passengers to check flight statuses before travelling. IndiGo said, “The fog continues to linger over Ranchi, Patna, and Varanasi resulting in slower flight movements. Departures and arrivals to and from these cities, as well as certain routes across our network, may experience short delays as we work through the weather conditions.”

Rakesh Kumar, who was travelling to Delhi, said, “Airlines are just pretending that everything is fine. Nothing is fine; flights are still getting very delayed. Passengers are still troubled. Patna-Delhi flight 6E-6389 was delayed for more than six hours. Many elderly passengers are sitting at the airport since morning.”

Flight 6E-6389, which was scheduled to depart for Delhi at 11.50 am, eventually took off from Patna airport at 5:09 pm. A Sambalpuri poet and writer from Bargah, Haldar Nag, who was travelling to Patna to join the National Literature Festival, was stranded at Jharsuguda Airport due to the cancellation of his flight via Delhi.

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