New Delhi: For the third day running, intense cold wave conditions and a thick blanket of fog continued to disrupt normal life in the Capital on Sunday, as flights remained suspended at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Airport authorities have said that 70 per cent of delayed flights have been cleared and normalcy would be brought in soon.
Earlier, some of the international flights bound for Delhi were diverted. Several domestic flights including the Air Deccan Delhi-Bangalore flight stand cancelled. Jet Airways flights to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Indore and Ahmedabad are delayed.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport was shut off since 2200 hrs, (IST) on Saturday night as dense fog gathered on the runway. With runway visibility range at the airport at 50 m at 0830 hrs, (IST) on Sunday flights are likely to resume only after the weather clears up.
Though the airport has the advanced CAT-III B system only Indian Airlines pilots are trained to use it. Unless the pilots are fully satisfied with the weather conditions, the flights do not take off.
The last flight to take off was an Indian Airlines flight to Dubai at 2145 hrs, (IST) on Saturday night. Several private airlines, including Jet Airways, Air Deccan and Air Sahara have already announced suspension of operations due to foggy the conditions.
Over 40 flights operating from Delhi have been affected while several international flights flying into the capital have been diverted.
Tempers flew high at the Airport as passengers were made to wait for long hours for their flights to take off.
Cold winds blowing from the North West parts of the country pushed the mercury further down in the Capital. While the minimum temperature was recorded at 6.2 degree Celsius, the maximum temperature stood at 18.9 degree Celsius, which was a good 4 degrees below normal.
Several trains, especially from the northern parts of the country were also running late.
The Amrapali Express from Katihar, G T Express from Chennai and Uncahar Express from Allahabad were more than five hours late.
Air Deccan Flights cancelled and delayed due to fog at New Delhi on 25 December 2005.
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