Multiple flights delayed and cancelled, passengers left fuming: Delhi airport was a scene of chaos after unprecedented foggy conditions hit operations on Sunday and Monday. On Sunday, the airport reported zero visibility between 4 am and 9 am. Although 15 landings could take place during that time, take-offs were not possible. On Monday, five flights were diverted between 1 am and 5 am — four to Jaipur and one to Ahmedabad. Many passengers took to X to complain. One such passenger, Madhukar Pandey, wrote about passengers having a verbal altercation with IndiGo staff. “Passengers for 5 am flight to Turkey were boarded at 8 am & deboarded at 12 pm as pilot wake-time was over. Passengers were sent to a hotel, brought back for a 9 pm flight & now being told that it’s rescheduled for 4,30 am.” Pandey had been flying to Delhi from Lucknow on an 8 pm flight to avoid foggy conditions but still faced delays. Reon Saji also claimed he had to wait for 8 hours on an Air India flight before passengers were made to deboard and their flights rebooked. The following day, he wrote on X, “. After 8 hours of being stuck inside a flight without air conditioning, the flight they rebooked for us was also cancelled. No word needed to explain the mayhem. Long queues and fights only at Air India counters.” Tempers soared on board a flight on Sunday when a man allegedly attacked an IndiGo pilot after the flight was purportedly delayed for 13 hours. Speaking to The Indian Express, Sanal Vij (29), a software engineer on board the same flight, alleged, alleged: “Despite completing boarding by 12.40 pm, flight doors remained open till 2.50 pm, with ground staff attributing the delay to the ATC not giving the go-ahead due to congestion. However, at 1.30 pm, the pilot announced they were waiting for a crew member and the flight would depart shortly. Multiple requests from elderly passengers for water were ignored. The delayed crew member arrived at 2.40 pm, and the plane doors closed.” IndiGo released a statement regarding the incident saying, “On January 14, during the announcement of a flight delay. a passenger assaulted the first officer. As per protocol, the passenger was declared unruly and handed over to local law enforcement agencies. The incident is being referred to the independent internal committee for appropriate action.” Air India responded to passenger dissatisfaction in a post on X, stating: “Air India regrets the disruption to operations arising from the last few days’ dense fog in North India, including at our main Delhi hub, which resulted in some diversions and desynchronisation of aircraft and crew rotations. We are working hard to restore schedules, and sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers.” According to Flightradar24, which tracks flights live, the adverse weather conditions led to delays in 310 arriving flights and 72 cancellations on Monday; 460 flights were delayed and 87 cancelled in departures. On Sunday, 414 flights were delayed in arrivals and 508 in departures. The airport also saw 42 cancelled flights in arrivals and 87 cancelled departures.
