Aviation ministry reviews fog planning ahead of winter operations

The meeting was chaired by the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia, and attended by Minister of State General (Retd) VK Singh, officers from the ministry, DGCA, Airports Authority of India and other related organisations.

Introducing the subject, Minister Scindia said that the proactive approach to his ministry, and other stakeholders has led to a significant decline in flight cancellations and flight diversions during the fog period despite an increase of 22 per cent in the number of aircraft movements in the past two years, as per a release.

In 2021-22, 124 flights were cancelled out of 136,374 total aircraft movements, which amounted to a 0.09 per cent, rate of cancellations.

The figure declined to 86 cancellations for 166,927 total aircraft movements in 2022-23, leading to a 0.05 per cent rate of cancellations. Similarly, in 2021-22, 58 flight diversions took place from the 8 main fog-prone airports which declined to 14 in 2022-23.

The minister said fog is a weather phenomenon generally confined to a few thousand feet above ground level contributing to poor visibility -- below 1,000 meters.

During fog conditions, visibility deteriorates due to the presence of water droplets and dust in the layer of air close to the ground. The period between December 10 and February 10 each year is usually considered a fog period.

Scindia said that every year DGCA undertakes an exercise to ensure that airlines and aerodrome operators take actions to prepare themselves for fog conditions well in advance so that disruptions and services in terms of flight cancellations and diversions are minimized.

The minister said that there are 6 airports that have CAT III landing facilities and the flights are able to land with low runway visual range. He said that CAT I capability will be enabled in 8 airports while facilities will be upgraded from CAT I to CAT II in 4 airports. (ANI)