War rooms to be set up across six airports even as fog plays spoilsport

Fog continued to keep airport authorities on their toes across major cities, including Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru, on Tuesday. The Civil Aviation Ministry has issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) and set of guidelines tightening the cancellation norms for airlines amid inordinate delays. There was severe fog enveloping Delhi and major parts of North India, leading to flight delays throughout Tuesday, although the number of flight cancellations and diversions came down. Even flight delays reduced drastically in the last 24 hours. 

Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad airport did not witness any cancellations and diversions, and the delay duration, which was an average of at least 2 hours, has gone down to 30 to 45 minutes. Varanasi airport, however, witnessed a diversion of one flight, and 12 flights were cancelled at Chandigarh airport.

“Due to adverse weather [fog] at Delhi and Varanasi, our flight schedules have been affected, which may lead to consequential delays. We understand this may impact your travel plans and regret the inconvenience. Our teams are working continuously to assist all our customers,” said Akasa.

This was a massive respite for passengers compared to the mayhem that prevailed in the last two days at the airports.

On Sunday, after a video of passengers eating on the tarmac at Mumbai Airport went viral on social media, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Sh Jyotiraditya Scindia held a meeting with all Ministry officials on Monday. In the early hours of January 16, MoCA’s Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) issued show-cause notices to Indigo and Mumbai Airport.

According to the notices issued, IndiGo and Mumbai Airport “were not proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport”. “The aircraft was allotted a remote bay C-33 (instead of a Contact Stand, an aircraft parking stand that is suitable for walking passengers to and from an aircraft from an allocated boarding gate), which further added to passenger woes, and deprived them the opportunity to avail basic facilities such as rest rooms and refreshments at the terminal.”

According to Ministry officials, this resulted in an unfavorable experience for the tired and harassed passengers. The flight operation was planned and executed without taking passenger convenience, laid down security norms and the operational issues into account.

Meanwhile, a show-cause notice was also sent to IndiGo, stating sections of the Aircraft (Security) Rules 2023 regarding failure to observe due aviation security procedures. In a press statement, IndiGo said it “has already initiated an internal enquiry to address the issue and will be responding to the notice as per protocol”.

additional SOPs

On Tuesday, Civil Aviation Minister Scindia issued additional SOPs to deal with the chaos at the airport, including setting up war rooms by airports and airline operators at the six metro airports to address issues that cause inconvenience to passengers. The SOPs also include maintainance of sufficient CISF manpower round-the-clock.

The DGCA issued new guidelines instructing airlines to promptly share real-time flight delay information on their websites, and notify affected passengers through SMS, WhatsApp, and email. The SOPs also emphasise the need for updated delay information displays at airports and proper communication from airline staff. To tackle fog-related delays, airlines are advised to cancel flights expected to be delayed by more than three hours due to adverse weather, aiming to prevent airport congestion and reduce passenger inconvenience.

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