Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia gets cracking over flight delays, to set up war rooms at 6 Metro airports

Delay and last-minute cancellation of hundreds of flights due to fog and poor visibility has left several travelers agitated. To mitigate passengers’ inconvinence because of fog induced disruptions to domestic and international flight operations, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Tuesday announced additional measures including setting up of ‘War Rooms’ by airports and airline operators at the six Metro Airports. These ‘War Rooms’ will help address any issues with regard to passenger inconvenience with immediacy, the minister said. The six metro airports are Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai. Scindia further said the Civil Aviation Ministry has sought “incidence” reports from all six metro airports “thrice daily” from all the airlines. The airlines have been asked to implement the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directives and SOPs. As for security, sufficient CISF manpower availability will be ensured round-the-clock, the minister said. Scindia further informed that RWY 29L at the Delhi airport has been made CAT III operational on Tuesday and operationalisation of RWY 10/28 as CAT III at Delhi Airport after re-carpeting will also be undertaken.

In view of the fog-induced disruptions, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on mitigating passenger inconvenience were issued yesterday to all the airlines.

1. In addition to these SOPs, we have sought incidence reporting thrice daily for all the 6 metro airports.

2.… https://t.co/346YXjxGdH

— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) January 16, 2024

The minister requested all travelers to “bear with us during this difficult period”. “All stakeholders are trying their best to minimise passenger inconvenience. Incidences of unruly behaviour amidst this are unacceptable, and will be dealt with strongly in line with the existing legal provisions. I would like to assure everyone that all stakeholders are working round the clock to minimise the fog-related impact,” he said. Operations at the Delhi airport were significantly impacted by dense fog on Sunday resulting in diversion, cancellation, and delay of many flights. On Monday, the DGCA issued SOPs, instructing all scheduled airlines to comply with it regarding flight delays and cancellations. As per the SOPs, airlines have been mandated to release 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 SOP also stated there should be display of updated information regarding flight delays for passengers waiting at airports. “There should be appropriate sensitisation of the airline staff at the airports to suitably communicate with and continuously inform the passengers about flight delays,” the SOP added The SOP also included that in view of the prevalent fog condition and adverse weather, 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. With inputs from agencies