India’s peak-winter fog returned with a vengeance on 11 January, prompting all three of the country’s largest carriers—Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet—to warn passengers of cascading delays and possible cancellations across their domestic and international networks. Air India’s early-morning advisory noted low visibility forecasts for Delhi, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Udaipur, Varanasi and Jammu, while IndiGo expanded the list to include Patna, Dehradun and Lucknow. ([financialexpress.com](https://www.financialexpress.com/business/airlines-aviation-fog-derails-travel-plans-across-north-india-air-india-indigo-spicejet-alert-flyers-4103466/))
Operational impact: At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, Category III-B instrument-landing systems can theoretically operate down to 50 metres’ visibility, but runway occupancy times lengthen, forcing airlines to space arrivals and departures and triggering knock-on delays nationwide. Ground handlers report average turn-around times rising from 35 to 55 minutes. International connections—particularly late-evening Europe-bound departures—risk missing curfew slots at overseas hubs.
Passenger experience: Carriers are proactively offering free date changes or refunds. Nevertheless, corporate travellers have been stranded mid-itinerary; a Mumbai-based pharma firm told us its Monday product-launch in Chandigarh is now fully virtual after speaker flights were cancelled. Travel-risk managers should monitor airline social-media feeds, advise travellers to buffer meetings by 24 hours, and ensure employees use hotels with flexible cancellation.
![Dense Fog Grounds North-India Flights; Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet Issue Nationwide Alerts]()
For travellers whose plans are being shuffled, it’s also wise to double-check visa validity if itineraries are rerouted through unexpected transit points. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can fast-track Indian visas and arrange urgent transit permits for dozens of countries, providing real-time status updates and customer support that can be invaluable when fog forces last-minute schedule changes.
Wider context: India’s civil-aviation regulator DGCA has mandated low-visibility drills, yet secondary airports such as Jammu and Gorakhpur lack CAT-III equipment. Airlines therefore reposition aircraft to fog-resilient bases, reducing capacity elsewhere. The weather office warns that dense fog events may persist until mid-January, coinciding with surging business-travel demand ahead of the Union Budget.
Long-term outlook: The episode underscores the mobility premium on infrastructure upgrades. Delhi’s fourth runway and planned Ground-Run-Time optimisation may help, but industry bodies want accelerated roll-out of GBAS (ground-based augmentation) and better crew CAT-III training at Tier-2 cities.
Operational impact: At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, Category III-B instrument-landing systems can theoretically operate down to 50 metres’ visibility, but runway occupancy times lengthen, forcing airlines to space arrivals and departures and triggering knock-on delays nationwide. Ground handlers report average turn-around times rising from 35 to 55 minutes. International connections—particularly late-evening Europe-bound departures—risk missing curfew slots at overseas hubs.
Passenger experience: Carriers are proactively offering free date changes or refunds. Nevertheless, corporate travellers have been stranded mid-itinerary; a Mumbai-based pharma firm told us its Monday product-launch in Chandigarh is now fully virtual after speaker flights were cancelled. Travel-risk managers should monitor airline social-media feeds, advise travellers to buffer meetings by 24 hours, and ensure employees use hotels with flexible cancellation.
For travellers whose plans are being shuffled, it’s also wise to double-check visa validity if itineraries are rerouted through unexpected transit points. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can fast-track Indian visas and arrange urgent transit permits for dozens of countries, providing real-time status updates and customer support that can be invaluable when fog forces last-minute schedule changes.
Wider context: India’s civil-aviation regulator DGCA has mandated low-visibility drills, yet secondary airports such as Jammu and Gorakhpur lack CAT-III equipment. Airlines therefore reposition aircraft to fog-resilient bases, reducing capacity elsewhere. The weather office warns that dense fog events may persist until mid-January, coinciding with surging business-travel demand ahead of the Union Budget.
Long-term outlook: The episode underscores the mobility premium on infrastructure upgrades. Delhi’s fourth runway and planned Ground-Run-Time optimisation may help, but industry bodies want accelerated roll-out of GBAS (ground-based augmentation) and better crew CAT-III training at Tier-2 cities.
