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Foggy days ahead at Delhi airport
INSIDE DELHI: While the airport prepares to tackle foggy days ahead, the city is already up against deadly smog caused by vehicular pollution. This was the scene near Parliament House on Monday.
NEW DELHI: As winter creeps in, air travellers flying in and out of the Capital need to brace themselves up for delays all the way from this coming December to mid-February.
The Meteorological Department has informed the Union Government that there will be over 150 hours during this period when visibility will be less than 50 metres due to fog owing to which no flight operations will be possible at Delhi airport.
That is the bad news. However, there is some good news too. “Some relief from fog is expected in January,” said Joint Secretary (Civil Aviation) K. N. Srivastava at a press conference here on Monday after chairing a meeting on the arrangements for the winter at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The meeting was attended by officials from the Met Department, Delhi International Airport (Private) Limited, different airlines and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation.
The DGCA has also issued instructions that all airlines need to have a CAT III-compliant cockpit crew.
“The airline operators have to ensure that CAT III-trained pilots are available during the fog season. If they fail to do so, they risk losing their slots in the winter schedule this season as well as the next one,” warned Mr. Srivastava.
The DGCA officials said they would soon issue standard operating procedures to all the stakeholders.
The Joint Secretary also said the Met Department would issue six-hourly bulletins to DIAL giving an update on the weather conditions. In addition, the Department will have an arrangement with them to provide online information on the runway visibility daily.
“In situations arising out of delays, all airlines will serve refreshments to passengers. In case they fail to do so, it will be DIAL’s responsibility to ensure that they charge the airlines for it later,” he added.
For its part, DIAL said it had increased the number of bays for the CAT III-compliant aircraft from 25 to 47.
“We have set up 25 STD booths at the airport. There is a 60-member strong customer care staff that has been pressed into service for the help of passengers. Also, there will be LCD display monitors outside all the terminals,” the DIAL officials informed the Government.
The Emergency Response and Interactive Centre at the airport will also be made more receptive.
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