The Aviation Ministry has asked six metro airports in the country, including Delhi and Mumbai, to set up ‘war rooms’ to address any issues with regard to passenger inconvenience with immediacy.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, in a post on X, announced a six-point action plan to address the fog-related flight delays and cancellations. This was in addition to the Standard Operating Procedures issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday.
He said the government has sought incidence reporting three times a day for all the six metro airports—Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata.
Sufficient CISF manpower availability will also be ensured round-the-clock in these airports.
The minister said runway RWY 29L of the Delhi airport has been made CAT III operational on Tuesday. The operationalisation of RWY 10/28 as CAT III will be done after re-carpeting work.
Currently, three out of the four runways at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital are operational.
The DGCA had on Monday issued a set of SOPs for airlines amid criticism over flight delays and cancellations at Delhi airport due to adverse weather conditions.
The airlines were asked to publish accurate real-time information regarding flight delays and appropriately sensitise staff at airports to suitably communicate with passengers.
On Sunday, 10 flights were diverted, many were cancelled and delayed due to fog at Delhi airport, resulting in long waiting hours for passengers at the airport as well as inside aircraft.
Many passengers took to social media to express their anguish, while a passenger assaulted an IndiGo pilot when he was making an announcement of flight delay onboard the aircraft that was to fly to Goa.
