Dense fog disrupts flights as IndiGo and Air India cancel services

IndiGo cancelled around 149 flights for Friday and Saturday, as per its website

Winter made its presence felt across North India as dense smog continued to trigger widespread disruption to flight operations out of Delhi, with IndiGo and Air India cancelling several services that rippled across their network, affecting airports including Mumbai and Hyderabad. IndiGo, according to its website, has cancelled around 149 flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

 

Delhi woke up under a thick blanket of fog and haze that sharply reduced early-morning visibility. Relative humidity touched 100 per cent, while the minimum temperature dipped to 9°C, according to the India Meteorological Department. Air quality remained firmly in the “very poor” category, with the city’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index at 382, edging closer to “severe” levels. Forecasters warned the situation was unlikely to ease, with the Air Quality Early Warning System predicting a further slide into “severe” territory by Sunday. 

 

At Indira Gandhi International Airport, flight operations continued under low-visibility CAT III conditions through Friday morning. Airlines cancelled at least 79 flights, including international services, and delayed more than 230 others. Data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed average departure delays of nearly 50 minutes as thick fog lingered over the airfield. Delhi International Airport Ltd said arrivals and departures were continuing but cautioned passengers to expect possible delays or disruptions, adding that ground staff were assisting travellers across terminals.

 

In a post on X earlier in the day, IndiGo said operations were affected in Delhi-NCR, Amritsar, Jabalpur and Jalandhar due to fog and cold winter air. Several busy routes were impacted, including services from Delhi to Mumbai, Nagpur and Hyderabad.

 

Both IndiGo and Air India issued travel advisories citing weather department warnings on low visibility and fog across north and northeast India. “We seek your understanding, as this is a seasonal occurrence, and flight movements are being managed accordingly to ensure safe and orderly operations,” IndiGo said in a statement early Friday, cautioning that customers travelling during early hours may face delays or revised schedules.

 

Air India, in a separate advisory, flagged forecasts of dense fog in Delhi and parts of northern and eastern India on Saturday, warning that the conditions could affect flight schedules and trigger cascading disruptions across its network. The airline pointed passengers to its FogCare initiative, which allows those booked on certain flights during the fog window to receive advance alerts, reschedule without additional charges, or opt for a full refund without penalty.

 

Weather forecast showed little sign of improvement. The IMD issued a red alert on Friday, warning of major disruptions to road, rail and air traffic. Visibility dropped to zero metres at several locations across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

 

Dense to very dense fog conditions were also witnessed in Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Chandigarh.

 

Despite the widespread disruption, online travel operator Cleartrip said it had not seen a sharp rise in cancellations, describing the delays as a predictable feature of the annual December weather cycle. “As we prepare for this regular irregular operation annually, our planning helped us manage the recent aviation crisis efficiently,” said Priyaah Sundaraam, vice-president and head of customer experience and fulfilment at Cleartrip.

 

“We scaled up capacity, deployed a stretch schedule and prioritised calls, ensuring communication remained highly proactive. This focus on readiness allowed us to provide timely rebooking and refund clarity when the entire industry was disrupted,” she said, adding that demand for Cleartrip’s Flex and Flexmax products, along with third-party travel insurance, has doubled from a year earlier as travellers seek greater protection against last-minute disruption.

 

SaffronStays, a network of private luxury villas, said bookings for hill stations and Goa have been severely impacted as flight disruptions from fog in the National Capital Region combine with unresolved pilot shortages.