IndiGo Cancels 80 Flights As Dense Fog Disrupts Operations

IndiGo has cancelled 80 flights across its network on Monday due to bad weather, according to its website.

Delhi airport, which had issued a passenger advisory stating that aircraft operations from its facility were being carried out under low visibility conditions, is responsible for half of these 80 cancelled flights.

According to the IndiGo website, flights to and from other airports, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Cochin, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Dehradun, Indore, Patna, and Bhopal, have also been cancelled.

The airline, in a travel advisory at 11.20 am, said, "Foggy conditions remain in place across Delhi and several airports in northern India, with visibility yet to improve fully. As a result, the earlier impact on flight movements is likely to extend into the noon hours, and some delays may continue." In the advisory posted on X, however, IndiGo did not say it had cancelled 80 flights on Monday.

"We assure you that flight departures and arrivals are being sequenced to ensure steady and orderly movement, while keeping your journey and comfort in mind," the airline added in the advisory.

Since the beginning of the fog season on December 10, IndiGo has been cancelling a significant number of flights. Earlier this month, the company cancelled thousands of flights, including 1,600 on a single day, due to the court-mandated stricter flight duty and rest period norms for the pilots, leaving lakhs of passengers stranded at multiple airports.

Due to inclement weather, the airline cancelled 67 flights to various airports on December 25 and 57 flights from various airports on Saturday.

The official fog window for this winter will occur between December 10 and February 10 of next year, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation authority.

"Due to persistent dense fog, flight operations continue to remain under CAT III conditions, which may result in flight delays. For the most up-to-date flight information, we request you to contact your respective airlines or visit our website," Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) said in the passenger advisory issued on Monday morning.

Airlines are required by the DGCA fog operations (CAT-IIIB) regulations to deploy a fleet of aircraft that complies with CAT-IIIB and to roster pilots who have been trained to operate in low visibility.

An improved navigation system known as Category-III enables an aircraft to land in hazy circumstances.

A plane can land with a runway visual range (RVR) of 200 meters using Category-III-A precision instrument approach and landing, whereas Category-III-B aids in landing with an RVR of less than 50 meters.