- Flight delays and cancellations have led to social media complaints.
- The regulator has instructed airlines to cancel flights “sufficiently in advance”
- The chaos is attributed to the cascading effect of fog in Delhi, home to one of India’s busiest airports.
Dozens of people took to social media to complain about flight delays and cancellations, prompting India’s aviation regulator to advise airlines.
The regulator has instructed airlines to cancel flights “sufficiently in advance” and keep passengers informed about real-time delays. Airlines attribute the chaos to the cascading effect of fog in Delhi, but furious passengers accuse them and airports of inadequate communication.
Following a flight delay of more than 10 hours on Sunday, a man was arrested and later released on bail for allegedly assaulting a co-pilot of IndiGo Airlines. A viral video captured the passenger lunging at the co-pilot during an announcement on the plane.
In another video, passengers were seen eating food while sitting on the tarmac at Mumbai airport, where their flight from Goa to Delhi was diverted after extensive delays.
Since Sunday, hundreds of domestic flights have experienced delays due to thick fog in Delhi, home to one of India’s busiest airports and a primary hub for major airlines like IndiGo and Air India. While fog is an annual occurrence, reports suggest that this year’s situation at Delhi airport is exacerbated by parking shortages caused by grounded aircraft and a closed runway for maintenance.
Dense fog causes travel chaos in Delhi:
The disruption, intensifying on Sunday, had a cascading effect on Monday and is expected to persist on Tuesday as well.
The weather department has predicted two more days of heavy fog in Delhi and other northern cities, causing delays in several trains as well.
Since Sunday, numerous passengers have tagged federal aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and various airlines on X (formerly Twitter) to complain about flight delays. Some mentioned being compelled to sit inside planes without food and water due to a lack of clarity about departure times.
On Monday afternoon, Mr. Scindia addressed the chaos in a lengthy post on X (formerly Twitter), attributing the “unprecedented fog” in Delhi on Sunday as the cause.
“…Visibility fluctuated for several hours, and at times, dropped to zero between 5 am to 9 am. The authorities, therefore, were compelled to enforce a shutdown of operations for some time even on CAT III runways (CAT III runways cannot handle zero-visibility operations),” he wrote.
He added that “unruly behavior” was “unacceptable” and would be dealt with legally.
On Tuesday, the minister restated the advisory issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and announced the establishment of “war rooms” at India’s major airports to address any inconvenience to passengers.
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