As the heavy fog has led to the cancellation of many flights in the Northern part of India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked the airlines to publish real-time information regarding flight delays on their websites.
It has also asked to inform affected passengers through WhatsApp messages and email, and sensitise their staff at airports to communicate with passengers.
“In view of the prevalent fog season and adverse weather conditions, airlines may cancel, sufficiently in advance, such flights that are anticipated to be delayed or consequentially delayed on account of such conditions beyond a period of 3 hours with a view to obviate congestion at the airport and mitigate passenger inconvenience,” the DGCA said.
The standard operating procedure (SOP) released by the regulator states that airlines are required to display updated information on delays at airports. It also said carriers must sensitise staff at airports to communicate with passengers and “continuously guide and inform them about flight delays”.
The SOPs have been issued in view of the “fog-induced disruptions and adverse weather conditions at various airports, including Delhi airport, causing delays, cancellations and inconvenience to passengers”, an official release said.
Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had instructed the DGCA to issue an SOP to airlines on “better communication and facilitation of passengers” affected by cancellations and delays.
On Monday, Scindia posted on X that Delhi airport authorities were compelled to enforce a shut-down of operations on Sunday for some time even on CAT III runways.
“The decision was taken keeping passenger safety in mind, which remains the foremost priority for all in the aviation ecosystem,” he said, adding that Delhi Airport has been asked to immediately expedite the operationalisation of the CAT III-enabled 4th runway.
According to reports, on Sunday, 194 flights linking the national capital were delayed.
On the same day, social media was replete with posts by passengers complaining about long delays and cancellations. In one incident, a passenger assaulted an IndiGo pilot.
Flightradar24, which tracks flights, put the average delay at Delhi airport at over three hours and the disruption index at its highest level.
Interestingly, as per data on the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s website, Indigo was the worst culprit in terms of on-time-performance for January 14 with only 21 per cent of its flights being punctual.
For other airlines like Vistara, it was 29.6 per cent, Spicejet 42.68 per cent and Akasa Air 41.8 per cent . Air India had 46.8 per cent on-time performance, on January 13, as per the official data.