(a) the number of such instances wherein aircraft of various airlines have waited in the air due to congestion, fog and change in route during the last three years and the current year, airline and year-wise;
(b) the details of the losses incurred by the airlines as a result thereof during the said period, airline-wise; and
(c) whether any instructions have been issued by the Government in this regard and if so, the details thereof?
Minister of CIVIL AVIATION (Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati)
(a): Traffic congestion and consequent diversions take place under unavoidable circumstances like bad weather, fog, airspace restrictions, unusual occurrences etc. The details of such instances on account of fog at IGI airport for the last three years and current year are at Annexure-I.
(b): No such analysis has been made by Directorate General of Civil \viation (OGCA) and Airports Authmity of India (AAI) in respect of losses due to congestion, fog and change fn route.
(c): DGCA has issued guidelines for aircraft operations during low visibility conditions at IGI Airport, Delhi vide Aeronautical Information Circular (AlC) 11 of 2009. Further, in order tominimise the inconvenience to trave- lling passengers and to ensure safety of operations during Low Visibility period, DGCA has issued instructions to all scheduled domestic airlines vide letter dated 2nd December, 2014 for immediate compliance. To avoid delays and cancellation during tow visibility, following decisions have been taken by DGCA for compliance of airlines:
(i) AH airlines to ensure that aircraft deployed to/ from Delhi during low visibility conditions are CAT-III compliant and both the commander and co-pilot are also CAT-III trained.
(ii) Only CAT-III flight crew to operate the flights to/ from Delhi, in case weather predictions of CAT-III conditions arc made by Indian Meteorological Department , `IMD). Failing to do so, such operations of the defaulting airline will be stopped to. from Deihi during low visibility conditions.
(iii) Airlines must take adequate care of providing bask amenities of water and refreshment to passengers during such conditions if (he flights are delayed.
(iv) All stakeholders should have better communication procedure so that level of interaction with passengers increases during the fog and they are aware of flight delays.
(v): One representative each from DGCA and (IMD) will be positioned nt Airport Operation Control Center (AOCC), Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) who will interact with airlines, AAI and DIAL. DIAL will organise conference on daily basis wherein fog forecast for the day and next day will be provided by IMD.