The New Year began on a foggy note for the Indian aviation sector. The fog that started on Saturday engulfed many airports like Delhi, Jaipur, and Lucknow and set back the aviation industry by a whopping Rs 25-30 crore, reports CNBC-TV18's Mehak Kasbekar and Isha Dalal.
Airports across the country failed the fog test over the last three days. It all started with the failure of the fog fighting equipment at Delhi airport. The Delhi airport remained shut for close to nine hours as visibility dropped to less than 50 meters and a glitch in the cables connected to the Runway Visual Range measuring machine forced air traffic controllers to suspend operations.
According to data from various airlines, nearly 100 flights were delayed across the country. About 30 flights were cancelled between January 2 and January 4. Another 20 flights had to be rescheduled.
Experts say airlines lost close to Rs 30 crore in operational costs alone and this is just the provisional estimate. Additional losses have occurred on account of excess fuel consumption due to diversion and flights hovering over airports, holding aircrafts over and the deployment of extra air staff reserves.
More troubling are the financial implications of the delays on a sector that is pitted in a race against time to turn the corner. Last year, cancellations due to fog resulted in losses of over USD 5-7 million to the industry. Experts say that this year a relatively fog free December may just help in curbing losses.
Source : Moneycontrol.com
Airports across the country failed the fog test over the last three days. It all started with the failure of the fog fighting equipment at Delhi airport. The Delhi airport remained shut for close to nine hours as visibility dropped to less than 50 meters and a glitch in the cables connected to the Runway Visual Range measuring machine forced air traffic controllers to suspend operations.
According to data from various airlines, nearly 100 flights were delayed across the country. About 30 flights were cancelled between January 2 and January 4. Another 20 flights had to be rescheduled.
Experts say airlines lost close to Rs 30 crore in operational costs alone and this is just the provisional estimate. Additional losses have occurred on account of excess fuel consumption due to diversion and flights hovering over airports, holding aircrafts over and the deployment of extra air staff reserves.
More troubling are the financial implications of the delays on a sector that is pitted in a race against time to turn the corner. Last year, cancellations due to fog resulted in losses of over USD 5-7 million to the industry. Experts say that this year a relatively fog free December may just help in curbing losses.
Source : Moneycontrol.com
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