BENGALURU: The arrival and departure of several flights, including international flights, was delayed due to dense fog at the Kempegowda International Airport on Monday morning. As many as 46 departures and 25 arrivals were delayed while two flights were diverted.
The airport that has partially shut down its runway from 10.30am to 5pm as part of the upgradation project had to push the closure time to 12.10pm to accommodate the flights.
As the fog settled in reducing visibility to less than 500 metres, early morning flights to and from Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi and Chennai were delayed. The air services were suspended between 5.09am and 6.35am and 5.30am and 7.28am. This led to delays down the line.
In the last one month, there have been flight delays due to fog at the KIA. Hari Marar, president, Airport Operations, BIAL, said, “We did not want the passengers to face inconvenience due to the upgradation work. So we shifted the closure timing to 12.10pm. The overall volume of work planned on Monday for the runway will be less than scheduled. As soon as we expected fog, we informed all the airlines in advance.”
KIA witnesses heavy traffic in the morning with at least 50 departures between 5am and 8am. On Monday, passengers had to wait for hours to board their flights. Manoj Kumar, who was travelling to Mumbai in IndiGo Airlines, said, “I had a meeting to attend at 11am but I had to postpone it. These are uncertain events and so I have nothing to complain.”