Delhi AQI ‘very poor’; fog delays more than 300 flights, over 120 cancelled | Latest News Delhi
Delhi’s air quality dipped to the ‘very poor’ category on Tuesday after three straight severe days as fog intensity reduced over the national Capital, aided by an increase in wind speed. Shallow fog was recorded over the national Capital on Tuesday, in contrast to very dense fog on Monday, even as flights continued to be impacted at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.
The wind direction changed to westerly on Monday and also increased in speed. (HT photo)
Over 300 flights were delayed at the Delhi airport and at least 126 flights were cancelled, mostly in advance, by multiple airlines on Tuesday.
The 24-hour average air quality Index (AQI) stood at 377 at 8am on Tuesday. It was 427 at 4pm on Monday. The AQI peaked at 461 on Sunday in what was the second worst December air day ever on record.
Flights on Tuesday saw a cascading effect from Monday’s very dense fog spell which saw takeoffs being halted for around five hours, over 800 delays in total, over 220 cancellations and five diversions.
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The flight tracking website Flightradar24 said 86 arrivals were delayed and three arrivals were cancelled. Meanwhile, 119 departures were delayed with no cancellations. A flight is classified as delayed if it is late by more than 15 minutes.
In a statement issued around midnight on Monday, Air India had said the cancellations and delays on Monday were due to the dense fog which also caused parking bay constraints at the Delhi airport.
“Regrettably, several Air India flights had to be delayed and/or cancelled, which had a cascading, network-wide impact on our flight schedules as a result..” it said, adding based on IMD’s forecast for similar fog on Tuesday, some select flights had been cancelled in advance, with passengers being offered a full refund or free rescheduling.
IndiGo also issued a travel advisory at around 4am on Tuesday, stating as is usually seen in northern India, fog may slow down flight movement.
“Wherever possible, we are making thoughtful adjustments on the ground to reduce inconvenience and ensure any waiting time is as comfortable as possible…” it said.
In a post on X at 6:06am, the Delhi airport also said it was still recovering from Monday.
“Flight operations are steadily recovering, but disruptions may persist for certain departures and arrivals..,” it said.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) data showed the visibility at the airport stood at 600 metres at 8am. In comparison, it was down to 50 metres on Monday.
Areas impacted by dense fog included pockets in UP, including Bareilly (zero visibility) and Lucknow – where visibility dipped to 50 metres in the early hours of Tuesday.
Met experts have forecast further improvement in air quality today – with winds expected to go up to 25 km/hr during the day.
“The wind direction changed to westerly on Monday and also increased in speed. Thus, the forecast was that fog intensity will reduce. During the day, there should also be sufficient dispersion of pollutants,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice President at Skymet.
