Dust storm in Delhi severely affects airline operations; over 40 flights diverted from IGI airport

New Delhi: Flight operations to and from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport was majorly hit on Sunday as a dust storm hit the city on Sunday evening, with sources at the airport confirming over 40 diversions and more than two dozen delays. [caption id=“attachment_4463961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The operations of almost all the airlines — domestic and international — were affected as the runway had to be closed down and the flight services suspended for a while, the sources said. The airlines informed the passengers about the delays and diversions on Twitter. Dozens of flights were diverted to cities such as Jaipur, Amritsar and Lucknow, the sources said. Vistara said its Delhi-bound flights from Srinagar, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai and Goa were diverted. “Till about 7.15 pm, over 40 diversions were reported. There could be over two dozen delays,” a source said. International flights from Kathmandu, Riyadh, Colombo, Jeddah, Kabul were delayed even as flights from Tokyo, Newark and Colombo were diverted to other places, the sources said.