'War rooms at airports': Scindia's new guidelines amid flight delays
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday released a statement detailing a six-point action plan to battle disruptions in flight operations due to extreme weather conditions. Over 100 flights were delayed and 17 flights canceled, on Tuesday, at the Delhi airport due to a dense fog in North India. " War rooms will be set up by airports...to address any issues," he said.
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Delhi recorded the coldest morning of the season on Sunday, with the mercury dropping to 3.5 degrees Celsius. Sub-zero temperatures and dense fog over the Indo-Gangetic Plain in the hills have made commuting extremely difficult. This resulted in severe disruption of flight operations at the Delhi airport. Neighboring states also saw delays in train and flight operations.
Read: Minister's statement on X
SOPs issued to check flight delays, cancellations
Issuing a statement on X, Scindia said that the SOPs were issued to the airports on Monday to check flight delays and cancellations. In addition, the Union Minister said that the Centre is reviewing daily reports from all six metro airports. Inputs have also been sought on the implementation of the directives of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, he said.
CISF manpower to be ensure round-the-clock
According to Scindia's six-point action plan, "sufficient CISF (Central Industrial Security Force, which handles security at airports) manpower will be ensured round-the-clock". In addition, "Runway 29L" at the Delhi airport was made CAT III (for low visibility) operational, allowing it to handle take-offs and departures even during dense fog scenarios.
Scindia addresses delay in flights
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday addressed the delay in flights due to the weather conditions in North India. "The authorities were compelled to enforce a shutdown of operations for some time even on CAT III runways (CAT III runways cannot handle Zero-Visibility operations). The decision was taken keeping passenger safety in mind...," the minister posted on X.
DGCA issues guidelines
Amid unfavorable weather, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has released standard operating procedures (SOP) for airlines. Airlines have the right to cancel flights that are predicted to be delayed or "consequentially delayed" for longer than three hours, said the new SOPs. The purpose of this move was to reduce passenger annoyance and expedite the operational reaction to fog-related interruptions.
