Flight services from Chennai hit due to fog, thick smoke

Chennai, Jan 14 (UNI) Air services were disrupted as a dense cover of fog coupled with thick smoke enveloped the city here this morning.

The smoke was due to the bonfires lit as part of the celebration of 'Bhogi', ushering in the Pongal festival.

The departure of 12 flights to various destinations like Andaman, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Madurai were delayed by several hours.

While the normal visibility dropped to around 50 metres early in the morning, the Runway Visibility Range (RVR) went down to 75 m at 0700 hrs due to fog and thick smoke in the area, airport officials said.

However, RVR gradually improved to 400 metres and normal visibility to 200 metres at around 0930 hrs.

Flights schedule to Delhi was delayed for the Ministers including Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu, Union Minister of state for Law K Venkatapathy and Tamil Nadu Law Minister Durai Murugan.

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