Weather disruption forces IndiGo passengers to wait eight hours in Delhi

Delay causes some to miss connecting flights; DIAL sources said zero cancellations or diversions from airport on Tuesday

Ketan Chauhan reached Delhi airport's terminal-2 at 6.30 a.m, two hours in advance for his Mumbai flight.

But while check-in and security was hassle free, Chauhan spent an agonising eight hours inside the terminal as the incoming aircraft that would take him and others to Mumbai was delayed due to adverse weather in Chandigarh.

“It was a horrendous experience. Our flight was supposed to take off at 8.45 a.m. and was rescheduled four times. There was no clear information from the IndiGo staff and all that they said was it was a weather-related delay. One of my colleagues was supposed to take a connecting train from Mumbai to Gujarat and he missed it,” Chauhan complained.

Another co-passenger also complained of lack of transparent communication. Passengers reported early – some even came at 5.30 a.m. keeping in mind the new advisories and were left stranded.

As tempers flared, senior airlines executives tried to pacify the passengers at the boarding gate. The 8.45 a.m. flight finally got airborne from Delhi at 3.40 p.m.

“We left our homes at 4.45 a.m. to reach the airport early and landed in Mumbai only in the evening,” the passenger complained.

Delhi International Airport Limited sources said there were zero cancellations or diversions from the airport on Tuesday.

Low-visibility in Chandigarh disrupted the flight movement early morning resulting in delays for five departures and four arrivals in that city.. “We had nil visibility at 6.30 a.m. Situation improved after 11.45 a.m,” said Rakesh Ranjan Sahay, airport director, Chandigarh.

Chandigarh airport has Category-I instrument landing system with a minimum landing and take-off visibility requirement of 550 metres. An aircraft can’t take off or land in Chandigarh in case the visibility remains below that mark.

Sahay added that airport management instructed cafeterias to stock up baby food and also arranged for extra chairs in the departure hall to ease passenger inconvenience.

“There have been some flight delays and cancellations due to weather in North India. We offered alternatives to passengers of affected flights as per stipulated procedures,” IndiGo said in a statement.

Like in Chandigarh, passengers at other airports in North India too faced the brunt. SpiceJet informed passengers that due to bad weather in Kanpur all departures and arrivals and consequential movements will be affected.

Elsewhere in Bengaluru, morning flight movements were delayed by 30-40  minutes. A delay was caused due to a change in runway resulting in longer taxi times for aircraft. “There were low clouds on approach and a pilot of an inbound aircraft sought change in runway,” an airport official said.

“We at Bengaluru airport are working round the clock to regulate the crowd and establish a safe and seamless environment at the airport,” a spokesperson said.