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The Indira Gandhi International Airport in the Capital witnessed one of the worst air traffic commotions in the recent times with more than 150 flights getting affected in less than two hours due to heavy storm on Saturday night. Dust storms and spells of rain forced the airport authorities to suspend the flight operations completely for nearly two hours.
According to Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), landing and take-off of all flights were suspended from 12 midnight to 1.30 am due to the storm.”The flight operations came to standstill due to poor visibility on the runway. Nearly 100 flights were delayed, 25 cancelled and 30 others diverted during this period,” an official said. Most of the affected flights were intenational that troubled thousands of air passengers at midnight. Of the 30 diverted flights on Saturday night, nine flights were international whereas the remaining 21 were domestic flights.
According to airport authorities, it was the first time that such a large-scale disruption was caused due to dust storms in the month of May.”Such damage was never seen before during this period of time. There were instances when services were disrupted due to heavy rain and thunderstorms during monsoon but not in the month of May,” an official said adding even dense fog this winter did not cause disruption of such intensity.
“The strong winds had begun to affect flight operations by 11 pm on Saturday. However, operations had to be suspended completely around 12 midnight as visibility reduced due to dust particles in the air making take-off and landing of flights difficult. Though services resumed at 1.30 am, it became smooth only by 2.30 am,” he said.
Further, it started raining that made the runway slippery.”The runway was wet that made it unsafe for flight operations. We had no option but to stop the services as it could lead to some major incident,” the official added.
The passengers at the airport appeared to be a troubled lot as they were completely unaware as to when will the services resume.”My flight was scheduled at 12.30 but it was initially delayed by nearly two hours and later cancelled due to the storm. It was quite uncertain as to when will the flight take off as the airport operators too had no idea regarding the same. After waiting for more than two hours, the flight was cancelled,” said Parik**** Sinha, a passenger headed to Mumbai.
According to Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), landing and take-off of all flights were suspended from 12 midnight to 1.30 am due to the storm.”The flight operations came to standstill due to poor visibility on the runway. Nearly 100 flights were delayed, 25 cancelled and 30 others diverted during this period,” an official said. Most of the affected flights were intenational that troubled thousands of air passengers at midnight. Of the 30 diverted flights on Saturday night, nine flights were international whereas the remaining 21 were domestic flights.
According to airport authorities, it was the first time that such a large-scale disruption was caused due to dust storms in the month of May.”Such damage was never seen before during this period of time. There were instances when services were disrupted due to heavy rain and thunderstorms during monsoon but not in the month of May,” an official said adding even dense fog this winter did not cause disruption of such intensity.
“The strong winds had begun to affect flight operations by 11 pm on Saturday. However, operations had to be suspended completely around 12 midnight as visibility reduced due to dust particles in the air making take-off and landing of flights difficult. Though services resumed at 1.30 am, it became smooth only by 2.30 am,” he said.
Further, it started raining that made the runway slippery.”The runway was wet that made it unsafe for flight operations. We had no option but to stop the services as it could lead to some major incident,” the official added.
The passengers at the airport appeared to be a troubled lot as they were completely unaware as to when will the services resume.”My flight was scheduled at 12.30 but it was initially delayed by nearly two hours and later cancelled due to the storm. It was quite uncertain as to when will the flight take off as the airport operators too had no idea regarding the same. After waiting for more than two hours, the flight was cancelled,” said Parik**** Sinha, a passenger headed to Mumbai.
