Over 200 flights and about 100 trains were affected after dense fog descended on the Capital early on Friday and visibility dipped below 50 metres.
Visibility dips
Visibility at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport started dipping from Thursday night itself, with general visibility going below 50 m at 9.30 p.m.
Cascading effect
On Friday, two flights were diverted, seven cancelled and nearly 200 delayed as the worst phase of the dense fog was observed between 7 a.m. and 9.30 a.m., which is the rush hour at the airport. This resulted in a backlog of flights, with cascading effect throughout the morning.
Flight operations were carried out using CAT (Category) IIIB Instrument Landing System, which helps pilots land aircraft in poor visibility conditions.
Terminals crammed
Fliers had a tough time as bunching of flights during the rush hour meant that terminals were crammed. Domestic departure Terminal 1D, which has limited space, was particularly congested.
Train passengers had the worse experience, as many trains were either rescheduled and cancelled or running late by a few hours.
More than 80 trains arrived late in Delhi on Friday, as a result of which many departures were also delayed. Besides passengers left stranded at railway stations in Delhi, thousands were stuck in trains running late for hours.
The Northern Railway rescheduled 38 trains and cancelled eight. To clear the extra rush of passengers, the Northern Railway has started the operations of three special trains.
The Meteorological Department has forecast moderate fog for Saturday and shallow fog for the next few days.
Normal temperature
The maximum temperature on Friday was recorded at 24.6 degree Celsius, while the minimum temperature was 11.5 degree Celsius, both of which are normal temperature for this time of the year.
