Flight operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) were hit and scores of flights were either delayed or rescheduled due to the thick blanket of smog in the city air.
IGIA officials said due to low visibility on the shorter runway 9/27, they could only use runway 10/28 in the morning. The third runway 11/29 is shut from today for three days for maintenance. The second runway was opened after visibility improved.
According to Delhi airport's website over 50 domestic and international flights were delayed.
At around 7 am, four flights of IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and Finnair had to do a go-around or abort landing. These include a flight each of IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and Finnair, according to the airport official.
Meanwhile, the Met Department said runway visibility between 7 am and 8 am was less than 200 metres and improved around 11 am. “Due to heavy air traffic congestion at #Delhi, departure delays up to 90 minutess are expected at Delhi airport till 1900 hours,” Jet Airways informed passengers on Twitter.
“Flights to and from Delhi may get delayed by up to 2 hours due (to) runway closure for maintenance,” Vistara tweeted. Poor visibility rendered one of the runways inoperable during the morning hours,.