Season’s worst fog disruption hits Kolkata airport
Times of India | 7 January 2025
123 Unprecedented fog chaos at Kolkata airport: over 10,000 passengers stranded, 60 flights delayed, and multiple diversions.
Subhro Niyogi & Tamaghna Banerjee
Kolkata: Kolkata airport experienced the season's worst flight disruption on Monday when thick fog reduced visibility to near zero and halted operations at Kolkata airport. This led to delays in 60 arrivals and departures and the diversion of five flights to other airports. At least one flight was cancelled. Altogether, nearly 10,000 flyers were immediately impacted by the disruptions, while the cascading effect throughout the day continued to affect several thousand more.
According to airport officials, a low visibility procedure was set in motion shortly after midnight when visibility began to drop sharply. Using the instrument landing system (ILS), the last departure took place at 3.25 pm, while the last arrival was at 7.10 am. However, there were many flights whose arrivals and departures were held up due to the fluctuating visibility at the airport.
Airport meteorological office director GK Das said the visibility dropped to 500 m. By 1 am, it fell to 400 m. Half an hour later, it was down to 300 m, followed by 200 m by 2.30 am. Again, half an hour later, it fell to 100 m and finally dipped below 50 m at 4.30 am.
"I was only around 9 am that the visibility again increased to 100 m. By 9.30 am, it was up to 700 m and then rapidly improved,"said Das.
With scores of flights being delayed as the morning progressed, the terminal building began to fill up with passengers. To clear the congestion, many airlines asked flyers to board the aircraft, but they had to wait for the weather to clear before the planes could depart.
The delays led to banter on social media with passengers demanding clarity on when flights would operate and some demanding refreshments while they waited. When Air India replied to a passenger's complaint of no updates or announcements on delays with an assurance that the flight is on time, one Rashid Wequar retorted: "Are your expectations not too high?"
Altogether, 30 departing flights were delayed. An equal number of incoming flights were also delayed by the fog. Of them, seven had to be diverted after they exhausted the holding fuel after the planes hovered over the city. Among them were four IndiGo flights (two from Delhi and one each from Hyderabad and Pune) and one flight each from SpiceJet (Delhi), Air India (Delhi), and Akasa (Bengaluru). The flights were diverted to Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Raipur, and Hyderabad.
The cascading delays in the network led to IndiGo cancelling a flight from Kolkata to Darbhanga. The Met office has forecast fog on Tuesday as well, but it will be less dense than Monday. "The fog may reduce visibility up to 200 m on Tuesday," Das added.