Panaji: Goa felt the impact of poor visibility over Delhi's skies as over 24
flights were affected from the state's sole
airport at
Dabolim on Monday, with over thousand passengers stranded for as long as six hours. It was a frustrating start to the New Year for the flyers as many of them missed connecting flights.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said departures and arrivals of at least 24 flights were delayed, but there were no cancellations till late in the evening.
"There was a sequential delay across north India because of fog. Poor visibility delayed flights in Delhi, Patna and Chandigarh," airport director B C H Negi said. "We extended the use of the international security hold area by two hours to clear passengers," he said.
Over 300 flights from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were disrupted by the season's worst fog.
Even the Indian Navy chipped in by allowing commercial flights to take off between 8am and 12.30pm, when the Goa International Airport is closed for military flying operations, to prevent further inconvenience to the passengers.
AAI officials said each flight carries nearly 200 passengers and with flights running full, more than a thousand passengers found their travel plans disrupted. Most airlines operate the Airbus A320 aircraft which has a seating capacity of 186 passengers.
Tourists and locals, who had booked flights to return to work after ushering in the New Year, wore a tired look as they waited for flight operations to normalise.
"After such a great holiday, it is so disheartening to see Goa airport that attracts a lot of foreign tourists in such a sad state.... rest rooms are home to mosquitos... no focus on passenger experience," Madan Saxena, a passenger flying to Delhi, said.
The flight delays began in the morning and continued into the evening with some flights being delayed till 8pm. A Goa-Delhi AirAsia flight scheduled to depart at 8:20 in the morning, took off from Goa at 10:48am, while IndiGo flight 6E179 (Delhi-Mumbai-Goa), which was scheduled to arrive in Goa at 12:40pm, touched down at 6:22pm. Similarly, Vistara flight UK 847 from Delhi to Goa landed at 6:18pm in the evening instead of 1:45pm in the afternoon.
"Many flights have been delayed, but as of now there have been no cancellations," an airport terminal manager with AAI said. "The passengers are agitated but they are cooperating with us," he said.
The passengers, however, said the facilities and amenities were very poor and the sole restaurant at the airport was inadequate to handle the hungry flyers.
"What a sad state of affairs, I must say. The terminal facilities are very poor. To make matters worse, the sole restaurant is overpriced and mediocre. It took its own sweet time to serve. The toilets are also in a pathetic state," said J Ramakrishnan, who was stranded at the airport for close to six hours.
