New Delhi:
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today issued guidelines to deal with chaotic situations as witnessed yesterday due to fog at Delhi airport.
The DGCA said in the standard operating procedure (SOP) for “facilities to be provided by airlines to passengers due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights”, airlines may cancel flights that are likely to be delayed or “consequently delayed “More than three hours.
The DGCA said all airlines should immediately follow the SOP.
However, in case of extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of airlines, the provisions of these rules shall not apply, the DGCA said.
The SOPs are:
Airlines are required to publish accurate real-time information about delays of their flights, which is published on: the airline's respective website; by providing prior information to affected passengers via SMS/WhatsApp and email; display of updated information about flight delays to passengers waiting at airports, and appropriate sensitization of airline staff at airports to appropriately communicate with and continuously guide and inform passengers about flight delays.
Smooth coordination at Delhi airport broke down yesterday after hundreds of passengers from delayed flights demanded answers from the airlines.
On that stressful day, the passenger of an IndiGo flight also attacked a pilot inside the plane while it was on the tarmac.
Air India said in a statement today that it regrets the disruption to operations due to dense fog over the past few days in northern India, including at “our main hub in Delhi, which resulted in some diversions and desynchronization of flight rotations aircraft and crew members.”
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia today said they have taken steps to prevent similar circumstances in the future.
“Yesterday, Delhi witnessed unprecedented fog with visibility fluctuating for hours, dropping to zero at times between 5am and 9am,” Scindia wrote on X.
“The authorities were therefore forced to enforce a temporary suspension of operations even on CAT III runways (CAT III runways cannot conduct zero visibility operations). The decision was taken keeping passenger safety in mind, which remains paramount. priority for everyone in the aviation ecosystem,” he added.