Delhi's air quality improves slightly but remains 'very poor' for 4th day
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi's air quality showed a slight improvement on Thursday but remained in the "very poor" category for the fourth consecutive day, aided by stronger surface winds that helped disperse pollutants.
The city’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 305 at 4 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 410 -- the highest among all the monitoring stations.
Of the 38 monitoring stations across the city, 23 recorded "very poor" air quality, while 14 fell under the "poor" category, according to the Sameer app created by the CPCB.
Delhi was the fifth most-polluted city in the country on Thursday, with Bahadurgarh recording an AQI of 325.
In comparison, neighbouring National Capital Region (NCR) cities, such as Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, reported better air quality, remaining in the "poor" category with AQI levels in the 200 range, according to the CPCB.
A haze shrouded Delhi during the day, with wind speeds reaching 10-15 kmph in the afternoon hours.
Forecasts from the Centre's Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) indicate that Delhi's AQI will likely remain in the "very poor" category till Saturday, after which it may fluctuate between "poor" and "very poor" over the next six days.
According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".
Transport emissions accounted for 15.7 per cent in Delhi's air pollution on Thursday, according to data from the Decision Support System (DSS).
Residential sources contributed 4 per cent, Delhi and peripheral industries 3.4 per cent, neighbouring cities 4-5 per cent and other sources 35 per cent.
Meanwhile, satellite data showed 69 incidents of stubble burning in Punjab, three in Haryana and 44 in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.
On the weather front, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 32.2 degrees Celsius on Thursday, 0.1 degree above normal, while the minimum temperature settled at 18.1 degrees Celsius.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast mist for Friday morning, with the maximum and minimum temperatures likely to hover around 32 degrees Celsius and 18 degrees Celsius, respectively.
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Indigo cancels 67 flights from multiple airports due to bad weather, operational issues
Mumbai (PTI): Domestic carrier IndiGo on Thursday cancelled 67 flights from multiple airports due to "forecasted" bad weather and operational reasons, according to the airline's website.
Of the 67 cancelled flights, only four were for operational reasons, and the rest were due to "forecasted" bad weather at various airports, including Agartala, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Varanasi, Bengaluru, among others, as per the website.
Aviation regulator, DGCA, has announced the period between December 10 and February 10 next year as the official fog window this winter.
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As part of the DGCA fog operations (CAT-IIIB) norms, airlines have to mandatorily roster pilots who are trained to operate in low-visibility conditions, as well as deploy a CAT-IIIB-compliant aircraft fleet for such operations.
Category-III is an advanced navigation system that empowers an aircraft to land under foggy conditions.
Category-III-A is a precision instrument approach and landing that enables a plane to land with a runway visual range (RVR) of 200 metres, while Category-III-B helps in landing with an RVR of under 50 metres.
IndiGo, whose operations are under DGCA monitoring after the cancellations of thousands of flights early this month, is already operating a curtailed schedule in compliance with the government's order.
Under its original winter flight schedule, the airline was permitted to operate 15,014 domestic flights per week, or about 2,144 flights per day, roughly six per cent higher than the 14,158 weekly flights it operated during the summer schedule of 2025.
However, after the massive disruptions, which saw the airline cancelling 1,600 flights on a single day on account of new rest norms for pilots, which allow more rest to the pilots, the government cut down the airline's domestic flight schedule by 10 per cent or 214 flights per day.
As a result of that, IndiGo can't operate more than 1,930 flights per day on domestic routes under its current winter schedule.
The Rahul Bhatia-controlled airline cancelled thousands of flights between December 1 and December 9 on account of a lack of proper planning, and crew shortage in implementing the new set of regulations for pilots' duty period and rest, which were put in place from November 1, thereby causing severe hardships to lakhs of air travellers.
Following this, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) formed a four-member panel, comprising Joint DG Sanjay Brahamane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, senior Flight Operations Inspector Kapil Manglik, and FOI Lokesh Rampal, with a mandate to identify the root causes of widespread operational disruptions at the Rahul Bhatia-controlled domestic carrier.
The panel, which has already grilled IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer Isidre Porqueras as part of its probe, is expected to submit its report by this week.
Meanwhile, IndiGo, in a travel advisory on X, said, "Low visibility and fog over Bangalore has impacted flight schedule. We are keeping a close watch on the weather and doing our best where you need to be safely, smoothly".
Reacting to the advisory, an aggrieved passenger, in an X post, said, "My flight on December 20 from Bhubaneswar to Ahmedabad got delayed for more than five hours, and today my return flight from Ahmedabad to Bhubaneswar also got delayed more than three hours with the same excuse as bad weather. I am travelling with my senior citizen parents, and this delay is not acceptable. Need proper explanation, along with compensation".
