Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday shared an action plan for the aviation services following the delay or diversion of their flights following dense fog conditions in Delhi.
On Sunday, January 14, Delhi witnessed unprecedented fog wherein visibility fluctuated for several hours, and at times, dropped to zero between 5 AM to 9 AM, the Civil Aviation Minister said.
The Union Minister took to Social Media, X to share that the authorities, therefore, were compelled to enforce a shut-down of operations for some time even on CAT III runways (CAT III runways cannot handle Zero-Visibility operations). “The decision was taken keeping passenger safety in mind, which remains the foremost priority for all in the aviation ecosystem,” he added.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday shared that all three Operational Runways at Delhi Airport including a CAT III runway were handling flight operations as per their capabilities on Sunday (January 15), however, with reduced capacity due to intense fog.
The Ministry has taken the steps to mitigate any such situation in the near future. According to the action plan, Delhi Airport has been asked to immediately expedite the operationalization of the CAT III-enabled 4th runway (in addition to the existing CAT III-enabled runway) to the satisfaction of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in order to get approvals.
Further, the DGCA will issue an SOP for airlines on better communication and facilitation of passengers to minimise discomfort in view of flight cancellations and delays due to adverse weather.
The Union MInister also urged all the travellers to bear with the situation us during the difficult period. “All stakeholders are trying their best to minimize passenger inconvenience. Incidences of unruly behaviour amidst this are unacceptable, and will be dealt with strongly in line with the existing legal provisions,” he added.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday in its weather bulletin predicted dense to very dense fog conditions are likely to continue to prevail over north India during the next 3 days and reduce thereafter.
