The dense fog enveloping the national capital continued to throw flight and train schedules off track on Tuesday morning too with over 30 flights departing from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport delayed and 17 cancelled. As many as 30 trains were also delayed due to the low visibility caused by fog.
The situation was the same as on Monday, where at least 313 flights leaving Delhi were delayed and 82 flights were cancelled, according to aviation website Flightradar24.
Though the Flightradar24 data showed that over 100 flights have been delayed due to adverse weather conditions in Delhi on Tuesday, a statement by the airport at 6:50 am said the operations were normal.
"Low Visibility Procedures are in progress at Delhi Airport. All flight operations are presently normal. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information," the statement read.
According to the India Meteorological Department, the visibility reported at Palam Airport at 7 am on Tuesday was 100 m while it plunged to zero at 7: 30 am. At Safdarjung Airport, the visibility was 50 m at 7 am and 7:30 am.
The weather conditions caused passengers to get stranded inside the airport for hours. "My flight was about to depart at 8:40 am but it is now scheduled to depart at 10:30 am. The reason they have given is mainly due to weather & fog," a passenger at Delhi's IGI airport told ANI.
The cold wave also caused the temperature to plunge to 5 degrees Celsius. While Safdarjung recorded a temperature of 4.8°C at 5:30 am, it was 7.2°C at Palam.
Protest at tarmac
passengers of IndiGo Goa-Delhi who after 12 hours delayed flight got diverted to Mumbai having dinner just next to indigo plane pic.twitter.com/jGL3N82LNS
— JΛYΣƧΉ (@baldwhiner) January 15, 2024
Chaos ensued after many passengers of the diverted Goa-Delhi flight, which was delayed for over 12 hours, sat on the tarmac at Mumbai airport and dined as soon as their flight landed. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media.
The IndiGo flight – 6E2195 – was scheduled to take off around 2.25 pm on Sunday. The flight that took off from Goa could not land at the Delhi airport due to dense fog and was diverted to the Mumbai airport on Sunday.
Irate passengers refused to get into the airline coach that would take them to the terminal building and instead sat on the tarmac near the parked aircraft to protest against the stopover. They collected the food packets provided by the airlines and began eating them on the tarmac.
Airport operators immediately alerted the Quick Response Team (QRT) of the CISF who cordoned off the passengers into a safety zone.
An IndiGo spokesperson said the airline was looking into the incident and "sincerely apologised" to its customers. "IndiGo flight 6E 2195 (Goa to Delhi) was diverted due to unfavourable weather conditions. As the flight was already significantly delayed in Goa, passengers were irate and rushed out of the aircraft as soon as the step ladder was connected," a Mumbai airport spokesperson said in a statement.
The passengers were kept under the strict watch of the airline authorities and security until further actions were taken.
Passengers are not allowed to stay on the tarmac of an airport and the incident was apparently a security breach. Finally, the flight left for Delhi at 2.39 am on Monday.
