NEW DELHI: With dense smog disrupting air travel in a big way in North India and harried passengers blowing their top, aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday announced the setting up of war rooms by airports and airline operators at six metro cities to address the mess. The cities are Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai. Sufficient CISF manpower will be made available round-the-clock at the airports, he added.
“War Rooms will be set up by airports and airline operators at the 6 Metro Airports to address any issues with regard to passenger inconvenience with immediacy,” said the minister on X.
Scindia also informed that both ends of the lone CAT III runway at the moment at the Delhi International Airport have again become CAT III compliant. Runway 28/10, too, will be made CAT III-compliant after the process of re-carpeting, he said. CAT III or Category III is a type of instrument landing system (ILS) that allows airlines to operate in very low visibility conditions.
“RWY 29L at Delhi Airport has been made CAT III operational today (Tuesday). Operationalization of RWY 10/28 as CAT III at Delhi Airport after re-carpeting will also be undertaken,” said Scindia. The 29L end of the runway was downgraded to CAT I last week as large cranes deployed on the Dwarka Expressway were blocking signals required for the CAT III system.
As for runway 28/10, it has been closed since mid-September for re-carpeting. The delay in making it CAT III compliant was because work began only after the G20 Summit, the airport told the aviation ministry. The delay was also attributed to the imposition of GRAP IV measures (bar on construction work to curb pollution) in Delhi.
The national capital airport has two runways equipped with CAT III - 28/10 and the 29L/11R. The other two runways, 11L/29R and 09/27 are not CAT III compliant.
As the fog situation this year was the worst in five years and visibility dropped to such an extent that the CAT III mechanism became ineffective, more than 1,200 outbound flights from the Delhi Airport faced delays between Sunday and Tuesday with over 200 getting cancelled. The delay was also due to shortage of pilots trained to operate in low visibility and the complete closure of a CAT III-compliant runway. Additionally, below-par communication from airlines worsened the woes of passengers.
Notice slapped on Indigo
The civil aviation ministry issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo and Mumbai airport after a video of passengers sitting on the tarmac and eating food went viral. This is a violation of existing safety norms, the ministry said