Schedules go haywire as season of fog, disruptions starts at Kol airport
Times of India | 12 December 2024
1234 Kolkata: The first fog of the season played havoc with flight schedules at Kolkata airport on Wednesday, forcing multiple diversions and delays that left flyers hassled and airlines reeling with subsequent delays throughout the day. During the two hours when flight operations were suspended, at least 18 domestic flights and two international flights were delayed, while three domestic and one international flight were diverted. Consequential delays continued to affect airline operations until the afternoon.
The disruption occurred during the early morning rush period as visibility dipped, and low visibility procedure (LVP) was declared at 4.38 am. There was no flight movement between 4.18 am and 6.16 am.
West Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose's visit to Farakka in a BSF helicopter was also cancelled due to poor visibility, Kolkata airport director Pravat Ranjan Beuria said.
Air Traffic Control (ATC) initiates LVP whenever visibility drops below 800 m. During extremely poor visibility conditions, ‘Follow-Me' vehicles assist aircraft in reaching their designated stands. Additionally, LVP activation occurs when the cloud ceiling descends below 200 feet. Beuria said this protocol requires collaborative efforts between the airport operator, air traffic controllers, and pilots to ensure safe flight operations while reducing operational disturbances.
All incoming flights were asked to hover until visibility improved. With thick fog continuing to envelop the airport, flights that reached the fuel threshold started diverting to other airports while departing flights were put on hold.
Among domestic flights, Akasa Air's and IndiGo's flights from Mumbai were diverted to Bhubaneshwar, and Air India Express's flight from Bengaluru was diverted to Hyderabad. An international flight from Bangkok, operated by SpiceJet, was diverted to Bhubaneshwar. Operations resumed at 6.16 am, when visibility improved. Th-ereafter, the airport limped back to normal as flights held up in the air scrambled to land, and those waiting on the ground queued to take off.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked airlines to deploy only CAT II/III trained pilots on late-night to early-morning flights in fog-prone airports, including Kolkata. While airlines like IndiGo said they had done so prior to the intimation, Akasa Airline appealed that they had a shortage of pilots trained to land in dense fog and requested the regulator for exemption for Kolkata and Bengaluru so that it could have all its low-visibility trained crew on north India flights. With its appeal turned down by DGCA, Akasa may find it challenging to operate two early morning flights to Mumbai and Surat from Kolkata on days when the airport is affected by fog.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.