Fog hits air,rail traffic

According to officials,fog began to descend on the airport from 7.40 pm on Saturday — resulting in more than 100 flights being cancelled,diverted or delayed. A total of 326 flights were affected as airport officials implemented low-visibility procedures (LVP). By 10.55 pm,visibility dropped to near zero and for the next two hours — till 1 am on Sunday — the airport was practically shut down. All 31 flights,which were to land during this period,were diverted.

Jaipur airport received the maximum number of diverted flights — 16. In total,42 flights were diverted — 28 domestic and 14 international.

The chaos in the air translated to mess on ground with several passengers complaining of a lack of information. As commuters took over the public announcement systems,the CISF was forced to intervene.

The Met department,meanwhile,has warned that the weather condition will be similar between 10 pm on Sunday and 9 am on Monday.

On Saturday night,a record total of 130 flights were operated under CAT-III B,which is pressed into service only if the runway visual range drops below 200 metres.

The Mumbai-Delhi route,one the busiest,was severely affected,with six flights cancelled. Three flights,which were scheduled to arrive in Delhi from Mumbai,were diverted back. About 15 domestic and 12 international flights from Delhi were cancelled.

Delays ran between three and five hours,with a few morning flights being rescheduled for the latter part of the day.

Flights to airports in the northern sector like Kullu,Leh,Amritsar,Srinagar and Chandigarh were cancelled.

Meanwhile,Air India rescheduled its flights to New York,Chicago and Toronto after visibility dropped below the operable limit.