Fog of confusion

The aviation ecosystem needs to cooperate better

Fog is a standard occurrence in north India during winter. Each year, flights are cancelled on account of poor visibility, that too during a peak travel period. This year, fog has been particularly disruptive. With over 60 flights diverted from Delhi airport, the country’s largest and busiest, over the Christmas and New Year break, the airport authorities and airlines have been trading charges. Airport officials have accused airlines of not keeping on the roster enough pilots trained on CAT III instrument landing systems or equipping enough aircraft with such equipment designed to land in dense fog. The airlines, in turn, have accused the Delhi airport authorities of operating only one of the two CAT III-compliant runways, where flights can land in poor visibility. These counter-accusations point to a lack of constructive planning within the aviation ecosystem of airport and airline managements.

In fact, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has a fog protocol in place to enable such planning. It defines the fog period as December 10 to February 10 and the window for CAT III operations between 9 pm and 10 am. In the past two years, the adjustment of roster schedules on the basis of these definitions has helped airlines significantly reduce cancellations. Based on the DGCA’s fog time-table, airlines tend to keep on the roster their pilots for early-morning flights and for northern airports. But climate change and growing urban pollution have impacted these routines. This year, not only did visibility drop below levels considered safe even for CAT III landings, the northern fog persisted well past 10 am. Predictably, this situation had a knock-on effect, throwing schedules out of gear for afternoon and evening flights too. Adding to this problem, Hyderabad and Bengaluru airports were fog-bound at the same time. Though Bengaluru is one of six Indian airports with CAT III-compliant runways, Hyderabad is not. Bengaluru is one of two airports, the other being Kolkata, outside the north to have these facilities. The other airports are Amritsar, Lucknow, and Jaipur.

The December 2023 fiasco points to two adjustments that airports and airlines must make. The first is to work on the assumption of unanticipated fog at any airport, not just those in the north, so that more of them are made CAT III-capable. In fact, Bengaluru airport too saw fog disruption in 2019. Erratic weather means that airlines need to increase the complement of CAT III-trained pilots, although there is reportedly no shortage of pilots trained to land in fog right now. CAT III training costs are also less exorbitant than a decade ago. Airlines incur costs in terms of providing passengers food or hotels when flights are delayed. Given the thin margins on which they operate, spending now for the future may stand them in good stead. That apart, airports that have CAT III-compliant runways must ensure that they are fully operational at peak season. Delhi airport, for example, has four runways but is operating three, with only one being CAT III-compliant. The non-operational runway is under repair and also reportedly happens to be the only other CAT III-compliant runway. Better coordination and management thus can help reduce seasonal disruptions in the aviation sector.