Delhi woke up to a cold, foggy morning on Friday with the minimum temperature recorded at 4.8 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season’s average. The dense fog led to disruption in flight operations at the Delhi airport that had been facing low visibility conditions since 4 am on Friday.
According to the India Meteorological Department, the day is expected to remain hazy with no chance of rainfall.
Arrivals and departures at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi are learnt to have largely been put on hold, and two flights had to be diverted between 5.30 am and 8.30 am. One of these flights was coming from Singapore, and it was diverted to Kolkata, according to reports.
In Delhi, the minimum runway visibility of 125 metres is required for a take-off.
“Flight operations have largely been put on hold. Very few aircraft are departing and that too on the basis of their size, visibility and ATC (air traffic control) clearance for taking off,” a PTI report said quoting an airport official.
READ | At least 10 trains delayed as dense fog engulfs Delhi-NCR
According to the official, departures were completely put on hold from 5.30 am to 7 am and arrivals happened only intermittently between 6 am and 7.20 am. Departures were not allowed even after 7 am as dense fog engulfed Delhi.
In a tweet, Vistara Airlines said: “due to dense fog and poor visibility in Delhi, delays are expected for both arrivals and departures with likely consequential impact on flights across network.”
“Currently, flight departures from Delhi are on hold and will resume by 0930 hrs subject to weather clearance,” it added.
#TravelUpdate Due to dense fog in Delhi and Bangalore, flight delays are expected for both arrivals and departures with likely consequential impact on flights across network. pic.twitter.com/Wy0eCgAww2
— Vistara (@airvistara) January 18, 2019
AT 6.33 am, Jet Airways also tweeted that some of its flights had been affected as there was dense fog at Delhi as well as Bengaluru airports.
#9Wupdate: Due to adverse weather conditions (fog) at #Bengaluru and #Delhi, some of our flights have been affected.
For real-time flight status follow: (link: https://t.co/aT3wpZexyr ) pic.twitter.com/abzc193O2L
— Jet Airways (@jetairways) January 18, 2019
Meanwhile, the day’s maximum temperature is expected to hover at around 22 degrees Celsius.
At 8.30 am, humidity was recorded at 100 per cent.
The air quality in Delhi and adjoining areas turned ‘severe’ with toxic PM2.5 and PM10 being the major contributors.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 411.