JOIN USDense fog at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here disrupted 65 flight schedules, playing havoc with the plans of hundreds of passengers on Saturday.
Visibility levels nose-dived to about 125 metres. Many passengers were made to wait for up to three hours right inside their aircraft.
Kharge stranded
Former Union minister and Congress leader of the House in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was among those stranded inside a Hyderabad-bound Indigo flight.
A fellow passenger had this to say: “I was travelling from Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar and boarded the Indigo flight (6E 266) at 6.20 am. It was to take off at 6.40 am though it finally flew only at 9.30 am. It was a harrowing time to sit in the crammed space.” The flight delays triggered a cascading effect, disrupting departures and arrivals till 8:15 am.
The airport’s waiting area was crowded, with long queues seen near the toilets. However, airport officials said all the food counters were kept open to minimise passenger inconvenience. The airport authorities reported that there were 38 departure delays and 27 arrival delays before normalcy was restored.
Two international flights, a British Airways flight to London and an Indigo flight to Dubai were also delayed.
A passenger also reported that pilots made announcements inside the aircraft that departures would be delayed.
Another passenger, Guruprasad recalled that he saw a 10-month old baby Ahista’s father having a tough time putting her to sleep.
Amidst the commotion, there were tense and joyous moments. A passenger, Nitin had travelled all night from Salem to reach KIA to catch an early morning flight to Hyderabad.
He was desperate to be with his wife who was due for her first pregnancy. However, as the flight got delayed, he received a call that he was now the father of his baby boy. As he broke into tears, the co-passengers wished him with a loud applause.
Once the visibility improved, the delayed flights departed as per sequence. The foggy conditions in Bengaluru and New Delhi disturbed the flight schedules across the country.