38 flights diverted, departures delayed as hailstorm, rain hit Delhi
New Delhi : Operations at the Delhi airport saw massive disruption on Thursday as total 38 flights were diverted to nearby cities between 6 pm and 8.45 pm and several were facing departure delays of more than two hours due to severe rain and hailstorm in the national capital, according to officials.
Operations of smaller aircraft such as Bombardier and ATR were suspended for a while due to strong winds but resumed later, the officials said.
"Looks almost like snow in Delhi! Massive disruption to flights with multiple diversions across airlines. Customers are requested to be patient, really not in staff or airline control," tweeted Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer, Vistara airlines.
A Delhi airport official said that 23 domestic flights and nine international flights were diverted to nearby cities between 6 pm and 8.45 pm. Remaining six flights that were diverted were either private jets or belonged to the Indian Air Force.
Among those diverted was a chartered plane carrying Haryana Chief Minister Monohar Lal Khattar. Khattar's chartered plane was flying from Jodhpur to Delhi but it was diverted to Jaipur. He later left for Delhi in a regular flight, Jaipur airport director JS Balhara said.
"In between 6 pm and 7 pm, nine flights were diverted to Jaipur airport. In the same time period, three flights each were diverted to Lucknow airport and Amritsar airport. Two flights were diverted to Varanasi and one flight to Indore in this one-hour period," the Delhi airport official said.
"Due to extremely bad weather, many of the flights are facing a departure delay of more than two hours," he added.
According to another airport official, four out of the nine flights diverted to Jaipur were of Air India. "These four flights of Air India were heading to Delhi from Varanasi, Kathmandu, Dubai and Kabul," he said.
Vistara airlines said that its flight from Guwahati to Delhi was diverted to Jaipur. Its Bangalore-Delhi flight was diverted to Lucknow and its Kolkata-Delhi flight was diverted to Varanasi.
Heavy rains and hailstorm accompanied by strong winds lashed the national capital this evening and brought the mercury down by four to five notches.
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Philippines president declares national energy emergency amid global fuel supply risks
Manila: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has declared a national energy emergency, citing the “imminent danger” to the country’s fuel supply due to global disruptions linked to the ongoing conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran, Al Jazeera reported.
“The declaration of a state of national energy emergency will enable the government… to implement responsive and coordinated measures under existing laws to address the risks posed by disruptions in the global energy supply and the domestic economy,” Al Jazeera quoted Marcos Jr as saying.
As part of the emergency response, a committee has been formed to ensure the orderly movement, supply, distribution and availability of fuel, food, medicine, agricultural products and other essential goods, he said.
The emergency declaration, which will remain in force for one year, allows the government to procure fuel in advance and take action against hoarding and profiteering.
Authorities are also empowered to take action against the hoarding, profiteering and manipulation of petroleum product supplies.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the country currently has about 45 days of fuel supply based on current consumption. She added that the government is working to procure 1 million barrels of oil from countries within and outside Southeast Asia to build a buffer stock, though uncertainties remain.
Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said the government is in talks with Washington to secure exemptions that would allow for the purchase of oil from countries under US sanctions.
The announcement comes amid rising public discontent. Transport workers, commuters, and consumer groups have planned a two-day strike to protest fuel price hikes and what they call inadequate government response.
Piston, a federation of public transport associations, described the declaration of a national energy emergency as a “superficial band-aid that deliberately ignores the structural roots of the fuel crisis”.
“If the government genuinely intends to protect transport workers and commuters from this geopolitical crisis, it would immediately suspend the Excise Tax and Value-Added Tax on petroleum products to drastically lower prices overnight,” Al Jazeera quoted Piston as saying.
Renato Reyes Jr, of the progressive civil society coalition Bayan, said the declaration “does not address the basic problem of runaway oil prices and [their] effects on the mass transport system and other sectors in the country”.
As part of the government’s mitigation measures, students and workers in some cities are being given free access to bus rides, and the government has started to provide a 5,000 peso subsidy for public transport workers, including motorcycle taxi drivers, to help them cope with rising fuel costs.
