NEW DELHI, December 25: With the fog lifting, it is business as usual for the Delhi airport with all flights safely air-borne. It will, however, take a while before the airlines operating from here are back to normal.Today, officials of most of the airlines, particularly domestic operators, had their noses buried in account books calculating the losses incurred in the last eight days. With more than 44 flights being cancelled, Indian Airlines was the worst affected of the lot. They had their figures ready three days after their services were affected. The airlines has spent Rs 2 crore on hotel accommodation in the last eight days.Jet Airways and Sahara Airlines were the two private airlines that shared the burden with Indian Airlines. Jet Airways spent approximately Rs 4,000 per day for just the rooms their passengers were put up in. Sapna Modgil, general manager customer services of Jet Airways says: ``We have been putting up our passengers in five star hotels like Vasant Continental, Radisson, Taj Palace and the Inter Continental. For a week now we have been shelling out a lot of money. In addition, we are paying for the passengers' food and transportation also. The fog has cost us a lot''.Though Sahara has fewer aircraft flying in and out of the Capital, even they have had to foot a hefty bill. ``We did spend a lot,'' admits a Sahara official. ``But compared to the others it would be a little less only because we operate fewer flights''.Passengers in transit were the worst hit by this week-long disruption. International airlines had modified their schedules by the third day of the fog. The minute night activity at the airport came to a standstill, KLM, Air France, British Airways and other airlines rescheduled their flights immediately. However, they too had to put up their passengers in hotels on a few occasions.``We had passengers from all main airlines staying with us,'' says Ajay Chadha, lobby manager at the Radisson. ``KLM, British Airways, Air France and every other operator sent some passengers to us and all our rooms were booked.'' At Radisson, the cost for a regular room is Rs 1,000 per day plus taxes.Today, with the winds blowing in the right direction, airline officials are glad that last week's nightmare is over. ``We did everything we could for the passengers, but their frustration was understandable,'' says a Jet Airways official. ``But the weather is always so unpredictable. There is nothing anybody can do.'' Everybody had to put up with cancellations in a season when people do a lot of travelling. The result was a dip in the revenue collection at a time that is described by an airline official as the ``jolly, travelling season''.
