Dense fog disrupts hundreds of flights, trains in New Delhi
New Delhi, INDIA (EFE).- Dense fog in the Indian capital, New Delhi, led authorities to cancel and delay hundreds of flights and trains on Tuesday.
Thirty-four flights were cancelled and 193 were delayed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, according to Flightradar24, an online portal that tracks air traffic in real-time.
Arrivals in the capital were also disrupted, with 27 flights cancelled on Tuesday and over 70 delayed.
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The Delhi airport said on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday that “while landing and take-offs continue” on its runways, flights without the CAT III landing system, which helps planes land in low visibility conditions, “may get affected.”
Northern India is experiencing a cold wave and fog that reduced visibility to zero at the capital’s airport.
Visibility was a maximum of 50 meters in New Delhi at 10:30 am, according to the India Meteorological Department.
The thick fog also delayed 30 trains heading to the capital on Tuesday, local news agency ANI reported.
On Monday, Indian aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the capital’s airport had been asked to “immediately expedite the operationalization of the CAT III-enabled fourth runway” to prevent delays in the future.
The country’s civil aviation regulatory body, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, will also issue guidelines to airlines to facilitate communication with affected passengers, he added in a post on X.