Season's first fog hits flights at BIA
The first fog of the creeping winter disrupted flight operations at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) on Monday.
At least 13 flights were delayed and two flights, including a Air India domestic flight and an Etihad international flight were diverted. The thick fog which lasted till 6.30 am from the wee hours of Monday forced the authorities to reschedule flights.
Officials at the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said the flights were delayed for about 7 to16 minutes on an average due to poor visibility and that operations resumed after 6.30 am.
Bad weather saw an Air India flight bound to Bangalore from Goa getting diverted to Chennai. The flight was scheduled to land at BIA at 5.45 am, but was diverted to Chennai.
The Etihad flight was diverted to Colombo. An AI spokesperson claimed no inconvenience was caused to passengers as the airline had made adequate arrangements.
Conceding that the fog-related delays at the airport have a cascading effect on flight schedules, airport authorities said systems were being put in place to avoid passenger inconvenience.
The BIA normally experiences ‘radiation fog’ - formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal radiation in calm conditions with clear sky - between November 13 and February 16, sometime between 3 am to 9 am. However, some of the airlines operators and even the BIA claim that the airport is not affected as many days as compared to some others in the country, especially Delhi.
