Morning flights delayed due to fog at NSCBI airport

Kolkata, Jan 28 (UNI) Several early morning flights were delayed at the NSCBI airport due to poor visibility level, measured at about 200 m.

At least, 24 domestic and international flights had been held up because of the fog, airport officals informed. The Jet Air's Port Blair flight was the first to leave the airport at 0750 hours instead of its scheduled time at 0630 hours.

The worst-affected sectors in which flights were delayed comprised Port Blair, Raipur, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Guwahati and Indore.

Visibility at the airport came down to 200 m at 0550 hours, making operation of Category II Instrument Landing System(ILS) difficult. The Cat II ILS, which enable aircrafts to land safely, operates when the visibility is as low as 350 m. However, the system fails when the visibility is below that level.

As a result of this delay at Kolkata, flights in the other sectors were also held up because of shortage of aircrafts.

At least, 22 incoming flights to Kolkata had to be rescheduled as well.

UNI XC LL RN1821