Chandigarh, December 20
Air and rail traffic went haywire today as season’s first dense fog in the tricity area forced cancellation of at least four flights and delay in arrival/departure of at least eight trains. As many as 48 flights — 29 departures and 19 arrivals — were delayed, while three had to be diverted.
I am not aware of reasons for lack of CAT-3 system as I joined recently. The matter has never come up before me. Rajesh Sahai, CEO, Chd Airport
Road commuters, too, had a tough time in the morning hours due to poor visibility. Similar conditions are expected in the coming days.
Due to bad weather, three morning Shatabdis got delayed, including Kalka-New Delhi that departed an hour late. Another Delhi Shatabdi left at its scheduled time, but reached the national capital 45 minutes late. The evening Shatabdi, however, arrived at its scheduled time of 8.45 pm from Delhi.
Further, the Chandigarh-Lucknow Express got delayed by three hours. According to railway officials, the train leaves the city at 5.05 pm, but departed at 8.05 pm due to foggy conditions.
Also, Chandigarh-Bandra Terminus Superfast Express got delayed by 3 hour and 40 minutes. A heavy rush of passengers was seen on the platform as they remained stranded for hours.
At the airport, authorities said four flights — from Ahmedabad (Indigo 6E-6506), Delhi (Indigo 6E-6025), Dharamsala (Air India 9I-714) and Leh (AI 9I-654) were cancelled, while those from Pune (Indigo 6E-242), Bengaluru (Indigo 6E-6633) and Mumbai (Vistara UK-653) were diverted to Delhi.
According to information, the flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar, Patna, Lucknow, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bengaluru departed late by one hour to eight hours, while those from Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Srinagar, Dharamsala, Leh, Jaipur, Patna, Goa, Indore and Bengaluru arrived late by several hours.
As many as 19 flights arrived late at the airport because of late departure from the source airport, said the CEO.
Over the years, fog and inclement weather have been hitting operations at the Chandigarh airport every winter. An aircraft requires at least 100-metre visibility to land safely. At present, the airport has CAT-2 system, which works only up to 350-metre visibility. The CAT-3 system allows flight operations even when visibility drops to as low as 50 metres.
Rajesh Sahai, CEO, Chandigarh International Airport Limited, says he is not aware of reasons for lack of the CAT-3 system as he joined recently and the matter has never come up before him.
Trains behind schedule
Morning Kalka-New Delhi departs an hour late
Another Shatabdi reaches Delhi 45 minutes late
Chandigarh-Lucknow Express departs 3 hours late
Chandigarh-Bandra Express delayed by 3.40 hours
Foggy conditions to stay
Weatherman has predicted dense fog over next four days. “Due to moisture and light winds at lower tropospheric levels over Indo-Gangetic Plain, dense to very dense fog in many/some pockets are likely over Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh in night/morning hours during next two days and dense fog in isolated pockets for subsequent two days,” says MeT.
4 flights cancelled
Diverted 3
Delayed 48
Departures 29
Arrivals 19
CAT-3 system lacking at airport
Visibility required for flights to land safely is 100 metres
City airport has CAT-2, which works up to 350m visibility
CAT-3 allows operations in visibility as low as 50 metres
