Delhi Flight Delays: 5 Reasons Why There Has Been Chaos at IGI Airport | Explained

Delhi remained under a thick blanket of fog on Tuesday as 30 more flights departing from the national capital were delayed and 17 departing flights were cancelled due to weather conditions.

New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport issued an advisory amid foggy conditions, urging passengers to contact the airlines before traveling.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), dense to very dense fog conditions are likely to continue over north India during next 4-5 days. On Sunday, over 500 outbound flights from the IGI airport were delayed while 87 were cancelled.

With low-visibility conditions significantly disrupting flight operations at the Delhi airport, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said all stakeholders are working round-the-clock to minimise fog-related impact as well as passenger inconvenience.

Three CAT III-enabled Runway

Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi is equipped with a state-of-the-art anti-fog landing system called CAT IIIB Instrument Landing System (ILS). ILS is a guidance system that helps planes land in low visibility conditions with the help of radio signals and sometimes high-intensity lighting arrays

The Delhi airport has been equipped with the CAT IIIB system which operates on three runways. Delhi airport has four runways — RW 09/27, RW 11R/29L, RW 10/28 and RW 11L/29R. Of them, three runways, including CAT III-compliant RW 11L/29R, are operational. The CAT III-compliant RW 10/28 is undergoing maintenance work.

Delhi’s airport operator DIAL has been directed to expedite the operationalisation of CAT III-enabled fourth runway. When a runway is CAT-III-compliant, flight operations can happen even in low-visibility conditions.

CAT III compliant aircraft can land with visibility above 50 meters, but the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recommends take-offs only at or above 125 meters visibility.

Cranes Causing Disruptions

The Gurgaon E-way end of IGIA’s CAT III runway – 29L – was downgraded to CAT I on January 13 (Saturday). The reason being that cranes erected for building the Dwarka E-way were causing interference in the signal for the CAT III instrument landing system on the 29L side, according to a report in The Times of India.

The Delhi International Airport Ltd has reportedly asked NHAI and the contractor to lower the cranes. Several users on social media claimed that only one out of four runway was operational. Reports said another CAT IIIB-compliant runway is under maintenance for recarpeting, and therefore, has not been in operation for weeks.

However, the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a clarification on Monday saying, “All three Operational Runways at Delhi Airport including a CAT III runway were handling flight operations as per their capabilities yesterday, however, with reduced capacity due to intense fog.”

Cascading effect

Due to the delays and several flights getting cancelled, there was no parking space for aircraft adding to the disruptions. Around 70 planes of GoAir, which collapsed in May, and several others of IndiGo, which is awaiting replacement of engines, have been grounded at the IGI airport for several months now.

The Delhi airport has parking stand for 191 flights while it handles around 1,300 flights daily. The disruption in the flight movement and planes awaiting ground clearance led to severe space crunch.

Deplaning

In several cases, passengers had to wait for hours inside the aircraft, which were stuck in long queues. In many cases, the passengers get restless and demand to be deplaned instead of spending hours inside the aircraft.

But deplaning passengers after boarding is not an easy process and requires clearances from airport security, as boarding is completed and luggage is already loaded. Deplaning the passengers so that they can wait at the terminal may require them to go through additional checks by the airline.

Terminal Congestion

The scenes of Delhi Airport looked chaotic in the last couple of days as flyers awaiting their departure waited for long hours for their flight to take off. Videos uploaded on social media showed people waiting for long hours inside the plane and in the seating area of the terminal. The Terminal 2 of the airport is finding it difficult to handle the load of passengers.