NEW DELHI: Thick fog blanketed Delhi and large parts of northern India on Monday, triggering widespread disruptions to air and rail networks. Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed and trains ran hours behind schedule, leaving passengers stranded and frustrated.At Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), at least 128 flights – 64 departures and 64 arrivals – were canceled while eight flights were diverted due to poor visibility. Nearly 200 flights were delayed, with an average departure delay of about 24 minutes, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.
Visibility at the airport dropped to just 50 meters, forcing operations to continue under CAT III conditions, an advanced landing system used in dense fog. The AQI in Delhi also crossed the 400 mark on Monday, reaching the ‘severe’ air pollution category.Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) said visibility on the runway was gradually improving but warned that departures and arrivals could continue to be affected.IndiGo canceled 80 flights across its network due to bad weather, about half of them at Delhi airport. Other airports affected were Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Dehradun, Indore, Patna and Bhopal. While the airline did not explicitly disclose the number of cancellations in its statement, it acknowledged that the fog-related disruptions would likely last into the afternoon hours.“Fog continues to prevail over Delhi and several airports in northern India. Visibility remains limited and flight movements are therefore currently slower than normal,” IndiGo said in a post on X.The airline has canceled a significant number of flights since the start of the fog season on December 10th, following widespread disruption due to stricter pilot requirements. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set December 10 to February 10 as the official fog window for this winter, during which airlines will have to deploy CAT-IIIB compliant aircraft and pilots trained to operate in low visibility conditions.Airlines such as IndiGo and Air India urged passengers to check flight status regularly and assured them that safety remains a top priority as operations continue to adapt to the fluctuating weather conditions.Rail traffic is affectedRail transport was also severely affected. Several trains were delayed for hours at New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations, leading to complaints from passengers. Gagan, who was traveling to Kanpur, told ANI that his train was delayed by eight hours while students expressed concern over missing meals, exams and connections due to prolonged delays. Taxi drivers at train stations reported a sharp decline in business as delayed trains limited passenger traffic.The fog also raised safety concerns on the roads as commuters warned of an increased risk of accidents due to poor visibility. Meanwhile, smog reduced visibility in parts of Mumbai and exacerbated travel problems.
