Diverted due to Delhi's bad weather, 2 flights waited at Jaipur airport for 12-13 hours

Ten flights were diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather conditions in Delhi. Of which, two flights had to wait for 12-13 hours at Jaipur airport. The airport sources said flights had to wait for clearance from Delhi ATC while it was learnt that pilots of the two flights said they were unable to fly since their duty hours were over as per DGCA norms.

Jaipur:Two of the 10 flights diverted to Jaipur following heavy rainfall and lightning in Delhi, had to wait at the airport for 12-13 hours while the remaining eight returned to Delhi.

According to airport sources, air traffic was affected due to low visibility in Delhi and flights from many cities had to be diverted to Jaipur airport. Officials said 10 flights were diverted from Delhi, of which, eight left for Delhi after some time while two got stuck at Jaipur airport. It was after around 12 to 13 hours that both these flights finally departed for Delhi, sources said.

These two flights are namely Air India flight AI-768 from Kolkata to Delhi and Air India flight AI-541 from Hyderabad to Delhi. It has been learnt that the pilots refused to fly as their duty hours were over as per the DGCA and so they couldn't fly further. Thus, the passengers had to wait at Jaipur airport throughout the night and around 12 to 13 hours later, they were able to fly for Delhi. Aiport sources said that the flights were stopped at Jaipur airport and waited for clearance from Delhi Air Traffic Control.

Some of the flights diverted to Jaipur included Air India flight AI-301 from Sydney to Delhi, Indigo flight 6E-2316 from Chennai to Delhi, Vistara flight UK-742 from Guwahati to Delhi, Indigo flight 6E-2086 from Gorakhpur to Delhi and Indigo flight 6E-6604 from Dibrugarh to Delhi.

​According to airport sources, a total of 16 flights were diverted due to bad weather conditions in Delhi. Apart from the 10 that were rerouted to Jaipur, three were diverted to Lucknow, two to Amritsar and one to Ahmedabad.