Do pilots command weather gods? Chaos outside Delhi airport over flight delays makes it seem so

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport was in a state of utter chaos on Monday morning (Jan 15), as frustrated passengers, grappling with extended flight delays, voiced their discontent through slogans, including shouts of "shame, shame."

A video captured a big crowd outside Terminal 3, with another showing passengers waiting at the help desk, seeking resolution as airline officials attempted to calm their frustrations.

Weather woes

The Indian capital has been grappling with adverse weather conditions, particularly fog impacting visibility, causing disruptions in flights across northern India.

Flightradar24 reported a significant impact, indicating at least 245 departures delayed and 100 arrivals running behind schedule from the Delhi airport.

As of 12:30 pm local time, 73 outbound flights faced cancellation, with the average departure delay exceeding an hour.

The ongoing weather challenges contribute to the persisting disruptions, inconveniencing numerous travellers.

Watch the video here:

Adding to the tumult, a distressing incident unfolded on Sunday (Jan 14)as a passenger physically assaulted an IndiGo pilot due to further departure delays.

The accused passenger Sahil Kataria charged at co-captain Anup Kumar on the Delhi-Goa flight, leaping over a food trolley to physically assault him. A viral video captured the altercation, where Kataria was heard threatening to open the plane door if the flight did not proceed promptly.

The flight, reportedly delayed by over 10 hours, became a flashpoint for passenger frustration.

Adding to IndiGo's woes, awidely circulated video shows passengers of its flight bound for Delhi, reportedly diverted to Mumbai due to operational problems, sitting on the tarmac at Mumbai Airport, engaged in eating and waiting.

Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, outlined the measures implemented to prevent the recurrence of comparable situations in the future.

"Yesterday, Delhi witnessed unprecedented fog wherein visibility fluctuated for several hours, and at times, dropped to zero between 5 AM to 9 AM," Scindia posted on X.

"The authorities, therefore, were compelled to enforce a shut-down of operations for some time even on CAT III runways (CAT III runways cannot handle Zero-Visibility operations). The decision was taken keeping passenger safety in mind, which remains the foremost priority for all in the aviation ecosystem," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)