What led to chaos at Delhi airport? Officials revealed this
Although most of the airlines are equipped with systems and pilots for handling low visibility using the CAT3B technology, the take-offs and landings of the aircraft are normally suspended when the visibility drops below 75 metre.
Delhi airport chaos: After the year's worst spell of fog on Friday morning, at least 600 flights were held up at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The restrictions on the flight operations during peak hours for Republic Day rehearsals also worsened the scenario. According to air traffic officials, the airlines did not prioritise their flights' departures after the visibility improved which led to every pilot calling the Air Traffic Control for permission to take off. This commotion lasted for around 7-8 hours, disrupting the schedules of the flight departures. According to officials, as cited by Hindustan Times (HT), lack of coordination worsened delays and forced many passengers to wait inside aircraft.
Normally, the process to clear backlog involves airlines communicating to airport authorities which of their flights must be sequenced first. “For instance, if five different airlines had 10 flights each to depart and there were only four slots, they were unable to tell us which four will go first. Passengers of all 10 flights were asked to board instead,” an (ATC) official, not authorised to speak to the media, said, as cited by HT.
Although most of the airlines are equipped with systems and pilots for handling low visibility using the CAT3B technology, the take-offs and landings of the aircraft are normally suspended when the visibility drops below 75 metre.
“The visibility between 5:30 am and 9:30 am was below 75 metre but once it improved, we didn’t receive any sequence and every pilot was calling us, requesting to depart. By the time things were sorted, restrictions for R-Day began. The airlines should prepare a list of flights they want to depart first, in advance,” a second ATC official said, HT reported. Restrictions for R-Day rehearsals were from 10:35am to 12:15pm.
An official from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that they had a meeting with the airlines, ATC and the airport operators regarding the situation and they are likely to step in to review the procedure.
Get Latest Business News, Stock Market Updates and Videos; Check your tax outgo through Income Tax Calculator and save money through our Personal Finance coverage. Check Business Breaking News Live on Zee Business Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
Power of Compounding: How many years will it take to reach Rs 3 crore corpus if your monthly SIP is Rs 4,000, Rs 5,000, or Rs 6,000
Power of Compounding: Salary Rs 25,000 per month; is it possible to create over Rs 2.60 crore corpus; understand it through calculations
Reduce Home Loan EMI vs Reduce Tenure: Rs 75 lakh, 25-year loan; which option can save Rs 25 lakh and 64 months and how? Know here
Top 7 Large and Mid Cap Mutual Funds with Best SIP Returns in 5 Years: No. 1 fund has turned Rs 15,000 monthly SIP investment into Rs 20,54,384; know about others
New Year Pick by Anil Singhvi: This smallcap stock can offer up to 75% return in long term - Check targets
PSU Oil Stocks: Here's what brokerage suggests on these 2 largecap, 1 midcap scrips - Buy, Sell or Hold?
11:18 AM IST