The Hindu Business Line : Fog disrupts flight operations at Kolkata airport

Kolkata, Jan. 7 Heavy fog disrupted flight operations at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport on Wednesday. No flights could take off or land at 4:00 a.m and 9:00 a.m. The fog condition is expected to persist on Thursday morning leading to more disruptions, according to sources from the Aerodrome Meteorological Office.

All flights during the period were delayed. One Air India flight carrying 435 Huj Pilgrims from Medina was diverted to Nagpur. The flight, scheduled at 4:20 a.m, landed at the Kolkata Airport at 11:30 a.m. In total, 26 outgoing and 15 incoming domestic and international flights were delayed, according to airport sources.

“The visibility had dropped to nearly zero between 5:20 a.m and 6:50 a.m. Deep layers of fog resulted due to passing of western disturbances, high moisture levels and falling of temperature. The condition is apprehended to exist on Thursday morning as well,” Mr B. K. Mandal, Director, Aerodrome Meteorological Office at the airport said.

Under the existing infrastructure, all flights need to be suspended whenever visibility drops below 350 metres. While the instrument landing system at the Kolkata Airport was upgraded to the Category-2 level last year, fog conditions at the airport requires further upgradation to the Category-3 level.

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