24 flights behind schedule for fog in North, Bengaluru

Pune: Shashank Jain was among hundreds of passengers who had to spend long hours at the city airport on Monday as their respective flights were delayed.

“I am waiting for the SpiceJet flight to Delhi and it was supposed to take off by 6am. I reached the airport by 4am. However, the flight is delayed by close to one-and-a-half hours,” Jain, a student, told TOI.

As many as 24 departing and almost an equal number of arriving flights were affected at the Pune airport because of the weather conditions in various North Indian cities and also in Bengaluru, officials at the Pune airport said.

They admitted that the flyers were much harassed as multiple flights were delayed because of the weather conditions. “But we cannot do much under such circumstances,” an airport official said.

Six flights, mostly leaving for Delhi and Bengaluru, were delayed by 45 minutes to almost 2 hours during the slot between 3am and 6am. The official added that the slot between 6am and 9am saw three flights to the national capital and Bengaluru getting delayed.

Suresh Dixit, who was travelling to Delhi in an IndiGo flight, said, “The scheduled departure time was 11:35am. However, the flight got delayed by close to three hours.”

He said, “The problem is that airline staffers often do not provide us with proper information. Waiting for such long hours at the airport without much information is frustrating.”

Several flights reaching Pune were also delayed by long hours. “Both arrivals and departures are co-related. Any change in the schedule has a cascading effect and the result is delays,” the airport official said.

“Any delay causes several operational problems. A flight reaching the airport beyond schedule has to hover until it gets a green signal to land. Pune has limited parking bays and the preference has to be given to the flights on time,” he said.

“An alert has been issued to all airlines to plan accordingly during this season. The airlines have to keep in mind flight timings and alternative airports while drawing up their plans. Diversion of flights might also happen,” he added.