NEW DELHI: Heavy rainfall that began Friday night and continued through Saturday caused significant delays for more than 325 flights at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport by 6 pm. Departures were delayed by anywhere between 15 minutes to 2 hours, while a few flights were cancelled. The status of some cargo flights remained unclear. Arrivals, however, were largely unaffected.
Airport officials seemed unaware of the disruptions when contacted, but flight tracking website Flightradar24 confirmed delays affecting both domestic and international flights. While an Air India source claimed delays were limited to 15-20 minutes, actual flight data showed much longer hold-ups. Key affected flights included AI 891 to Chennai (delayed by 59 minutes), AI 2577 to Hyderabad (52 minutes late), AI 101 to New York (81-minute delay), and an Air India flight to Leh (50 minutes behind schedule).
Air India Express flights also faced disruptions, with IX 2508 to Bengaluru departing over an hour late and 1193 to Guwahati delayed by 41 minutes. IndiGo's 6E 11 to Istanbul took off 2 hours and 2 minutes late, while 6E 5317 to Varanasi was delayed by 52 minutes and 6E 5066 to Ranchi by 48 minutes. An Akasa Air spokesperson confirmed their Gorakhpur-bound flight QP 1882 was delayed by 27 minutes.
An Indigo source said there was no major disruption to their flights."Very few flights were impacted and delay was not much too," the source said.
Air India Express haven't provided any official statement on the disruptions. With most airlines failing to issue clear communications, it remains uncertain whether the delays and cancellations were solely due to the heavy rainfall or involved other technical issues.