Flight service affected at Bhubaneswar airport due to dense fog

Out of the diverted flights, three flights from New Delhi, one from Bangalore and another from Chennai.

Bhubaneswar: Flight services at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar were disrupted on Thursday morning due to dense fog, an airport officer said.

Due to poor visibility on the runway in the morning from around 6.30 am, led to the diversion and delay of several flights, causing inconvenience to passengers.

For operation of a flight, the runway visual range (RVR) should be around 550 meters. At around 6.30 am this morning, the RVR went down to 50 metres, for which five flights were diverted to Kolkata (two flights), and Raipur (three flights), said BPIA director Prasanna Pradhan.

Out of the diverted flights, three flights from New Delhi, one from Bangalore and another from Chennai, he said.

Similarly, a flight to Dehradun and another small aircraft to Jeypore, Utkela and Jamshedpur from Bhubaneswar were also delayed due to the fog, he stated.

The director said the visibility level improved after 10.30 am, and one flight diverted to Kolkata has landed here. Later, the flight service resumed normal operation.

Necessary arrangements have been made for the passengers affected due to the delay of the flights, Pradhan said.

This was the second day during this season, the flight operation at Bhubaneswar airport was affected by fog conditions, he added.