NEW DELHI: Heavy fog made a comeback in the early hours of Friday morning bringing air traffic over Delhi's sky to a halt with 24 flights being diverted to other cities and many others delayed.

With no operations for over one-and-a-half hours till 9-15 a.m., it was a long wait for passengers at the airport to catch their morning flights.

While the flights that were scheduled before 7 a.m. did not face any problems, the visibility diminished at around 7-30. Apart from the fog, the technical equipment used to measure the runway visual range (RVR) electronically also malfunctioned causing major disruption of flights, according to sources.

"The Surface Movement Radar (SMR) was also under maintenance, which added to the problems. No flight took off or landed from 7-30 in the morning till 9-15 a.m.

However, things started improving after 10-30 a.m and the situation started returning to normal," an airport official said.

Fog surprises

The early morning fog took everyone by surprise as the Capital had been witnessing a sudden rise in mercury during the last few days.

With indications of the winter chill being a thing of the past and summer knocking at the city's doors, nobody expected the fog to play the spoilsport.

The passengers who had reached the international and domestic terminals to catch their flights were taken aback by the sudden fog that had thrown their travel plans out of gear.

Close to eight Jet Airways flights were delayed and four diverted to Nagpur and Jaipur.

Six Air Sahara and about 15 Indian flights were also affected by the low visibility conditions.

"Four Indian flights were also diverted to Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Varanasi. Departures started around 10-30 a.m. and arrivals to the city started at only 11 a.m.,'' said an airport official.

While the conditions in the sky caused havoc for aircraft, trains to and from the Capital were also affected. More than 20 trains were running behind time and three trains -- Lichchvi Express, Jharkhand Swarn Jayanti Express and Garhwal Express -- were re-scheduled for later in the day.

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