Date:10/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/10/stories/2008121050010100.htm

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Thick fog at Hyderabad airport

Special Correspondent

19 flights delayed; Paramount Air cancels its Chennai to-and-fro flights

HYDERABAD: As many as 19 flights were delayed for over two hours at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) on Tuesday morning owing to poor visibility caused by fog.

Viswanath Attaluri, Chief Commercial Officer, GMR-Hyderabad International Airport said: “Sources in the Met Department have attributed the thick fog to a ‘rare phenomenon in Hyderabad’, at least at this time of the year, but thanks to the enhanced technical facilities available with Air Traffic Control (ATC), the airport was able to substantially minimise the delays.”

Arrival of 10 flights was delayed for about 45-90 minutes. Six flights scheduled to arrive in Hyderabad were diverted to Visakhapatnam. However, they returned to Hyderabad after the fog cleared. Paramount Air cancelled its flights from Chennai into and out of Hyderabad.

The delayed flights included British Airways, Oman Air, Air Arabia, Spicejet, Air India, Kingfisher. The diverted flights belonged to Indigo, Spicejet, Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Paramount and Blue Dart Cargo aircraft. The timings of the diverted and delayed flights were rescheduled.

Even as hundreds of passengers had to stay put in the aircraft either due to delay or diversion to Visakhapatnam, the private jet coming from Delhi of G.M. Rao, chairman of GMR Group and who developed the new airport, arrived at Begumpet airport.

Though the RGIA had instrument landing facility, whether or not to land an aircraft was a call to be taken jointly by the air traffic control (ATC) and the pilot flying the plane. Considering the weather conditions, the authorities concerned decided to delay or land them in Visakhapatnam, the nearest airport chosen for diversion.

Asked as to why the diverted flights were not sent to Gannavaram airport, the officials said that the airport might not be suitable for landing so many aircraft and all the airlines might not have services available there.