Relief For Passengers As Delhi Airport's Runway 29L Becomes CAT III Operational
In a relief for flyers travelling from and to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that RWY (runway) 29L has been made CAT III operational.
According to the minister RWY 29L at the Delhi airport has been made CAT III operational from Tuesday.
What Scindiasaid about runway RWY 10/28
Scindia further said that the DIAL has been asked to expedite the operationalisation of runway RWY 10/28, which also has CAT III-B, but is closed for repairs.
On Tuesday, Scindia said the operationalisation of RWY 10/28 will be done after re-carpeting work.
According to Delhi International Airport Ltd, the maintenance work was impacted due to various reasons, including disruption in raw material supply, as per the sources in the know.
When will runway 10/28 be open
DIAL said it was committed to completing the project at the earliest and is targeting to complete all activities by 19th January for DGCA inspection.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport has four runways -- RW 09/27, RW 11R/29L, RW 10/28 and RW 11L/29R. Out of them, three runways, including CAT III-compliant RW 11L/29R, are operational. CAT III compliance allows for operating flights in low visibility conditions.
The airport handles around 1,300 flights daily.
Disruption of flights at Delhi airport
The closure of the runways came into focus late last month after hundreds of flights were delayed, cancelled, or diverted due to the fog and low visibility conditions at the Delhi Airport.
As North India continues to be in the grip of an intense cold wave and fog, the Civil Aviation Ministry has sought incidence reporting -- thrice daily -- from all the six metro airports, to reduce difficulties faced by passengers.
SOP for airlines
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for mitigating passenger inconvenience were issued by the ministry on Monday to all the airlines.
As per the SOPs, airlines shall be required to publish accurate real-time information regarding delays of their flights on the respective website of the airline and provide advance information to affected passengers by SMS, WhatsApp and email.
The Civil Aviation Regulator, in its SOP, also mentioned that there should be a display of updated information regarding flight delays for passengers waiting at airports.
"There should be appropriate sensitization of the airline staff at the airports to suitably communicate with and continuously inform the passengers about flight delays," the SOP stated.
It also mentioned that in view of the prevalent fog season and adverse weather conditions, airlines may cancel, sufficiently in advance, such flights that are anticipated to be delayed or consequentially delayed on account of such conditions beyond a period of 3 hours with a view to obviate congestion at the airport and mitigate passenger inconvenience.
"All airlines shall mandatorily adhere to the above SOP with immediate effect," SOP stated.
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