Six airports told to build war rooms as fog hits flights

Fog hung heavy over Indian skies for a third day on Tuesday, disrupting air travel and prompting the government to step in.

- Anu Sharma

The civil aviation ministry directed six metro airports to set up war rooms and report incidents three times a day. The directive to airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai comes after flight delays, diversions and cancellations botched travel plans and frayed tempers.

"We have sought incidence reporting thrice daily for all the six metro airports. The implementation of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's directives, standard operating procedures and civil aviation requirements will be monitored and reported regularly," Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said.

The six airports and the airlines there must set up war rooms to quickly address issues regarding passenger inconvenience, the minister said. "Sufficient Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) manpower availability will be ensured round-the-clock," he added.

Tuesday's government action came after a passenger in Delhi on Sunday assaulted a pilot over a 13-hour delay, and others at the Mumbai airport dined on the tarmac close to a plane. The passenger who assaulted the IndiGo pilot was arrested and let off on bail, while the airline took steps to put him on a no-fly list.