Fog delays continue to play havoc at KIA

Disrupting 50 flight operations, early morning fog once again played havoc with the travel plans of air passengers passing through the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here on Friday. The terminal capacity was stretched as hundreds of stranded passengers jostled for space. 

As many as 27 flights could not take off on time from the airport, as the thick fog around the airport and airfield reduced visibility to near zero. This also delayed the arrival of 15 flights from different destinations. 

The situation was so bad that eight incoming flights had to be diverted. Four of these were sent to Hyderabad, including two IndiGo, one SpiceJet and an Air India flight. Four other flights were diverted to Chennai, including three IndiGo and one GoAir flight. 

The visibility standby, issued at 6.24 am, was active till 10.09 am. All operations were suspended after 7.05 am, according to a Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) spokesperson. A standby is declared when the general visibility drops below 2,500 metres. 

A passenger, Raksha Nagaraj took to Instagram to say this: “The Bangalore airport today was so foggy in the morning that my flight was delayed by 2 hours. The captain announced that they at least needed 300 meters of visibility but they had only 150 meters visibility.”

Nagaraj, however, made full use of the delay: “The positive thing about the wait was that I slept the entire time so I can be fresh for the day exploration.”

But another passenger heading to the city, Jairoop, had no such luck. He complained about his IndiGo flight delay experience through a tweet: “Flight No. 6E 2624 Delhi to Bengaluru today was delayed by three hours, and over that landed in Hyderabad. No decency in staff to serve water or snacks to people. Shame. Poor service. Nine hours I am journeying and still not at destination.”