New Delhi: Amid chaotic scenes at the Delhi airport due to delay of flights owing to poor visibility caused by dense fog on Sunday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia directed the airport authorities to expedite the operationalization of the CAT III-enabled 4th runway in addition to the existing CAT III-enabled runway to ensure flight operations during adverse weather conditions.
Amid the inconvenience to flyers due to flight delays, the Delhi airport officials too said that flights that are not CAT III compliant may get affected. So, what are the CAT III flights which are always in the limelight during flight delays in winters?
CAT III and ILS: CAT III (Category three) flight operation refers to the Instrument Landing System (ILS), a radio navigation system which allows flight operations even during adverse weather conditions, which is mostly seen during winters due to fog and snow. ILS uses a two-directional signal system. While the localizer signal with frequencies between 108 to 112 MHz provides horizontal guidance, the glideslope having 329.15 to 335 MHz frequency is used for vertical guidance during flight operations in ILS.
ILS at Delhi airport: The Delhi airport already has existing anti-fog CAT III-enabled runways to ensure flight operations during low visibility. Three runways, 2 CAT-III and 1 CAT-1, are operational in Delhi, an airport official claimed. As per standard procedure, in CAT-IIIB category, if a plane is CAT-3 B compliant and the pilot is CAT-3B trained, the pilot can land the flight in 50-75 meter visibility, but minimum visibility of 125 meter is required for take-off for flights.
But union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said that the authorities at the Delhi airport were compelled to suspend flight operations for some time even on CAT III runways due to extremely poor visibility. In an elaborate post on X, Scindia said, “Yesterday, Delhi witnessed unprecedented fog wherein visibility fluctuated for several hours, and at times, dropped to zero between 5 AM to 9 AM. 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”.
Mitigation measures: The Union Aviation minister however said that in order to mitigate the situation in the near future, the Delhi airport has been asked to immediately expedite the operationalization of the CAT III-enabled 4th runway (in addition to the existing CAT III-enabled runway) to the satisfaction of the DGCA in order to get approvals. Besides, the DGCA will issue an SOP for airlines on better communication and facilitation of passengers to minimise discomfort in view of flight cancellations and delays due to adverse weather, he added.
“It is my earnest request to all travellers to bear with us during this difficult period. All stakeholders are trying their best to minimize 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,” Scindia said while referring to an incident reported on Sunday wherein an irate passenger attacked a pilot on board a Goa-bound flight at the Delhi airport during flight delay announcement.
Yesterday, several flights could not take off for at least six hours from Delhi airport as there was low visibly of below 125 meters, an official said. Now, flight operations are normalizing after improving weather conditions and visibility improvement,” said an airport official. Complaining about the flights’ delay, a passenger, Kapil Chopra accused authorities of not doing anything to deal with the situation, he said had led to “mess at Delhi airport”.
Chopra took to X and wrote, “The mess at Delhi airport. No flights took off for five hours. And now I landed back in Delhi yesterday. So escaped all this mess, but know of so many people who were stuck in the aircrafts for close to 3 hours on the runway. We can do all this PR about Delhi airport being the only airport in India to have four runways and operating only one,” he wrote on the micro blogging site.
- Read more: Unruly passenger behaviour unacceptable: Jyotiraditya Scindia
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