The Hindu : New Delhi News : Bid to counter fog delays

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Thursday, Nov 29, 2007
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New Delhi

Bid to counter fog delays

Staff Reporter

“A centralised Emergency Response Centre to be set up”

DIAL to deploy 60 specially-trained Customer Service Staff
To set up call centre to share available flight info, airlines’ contact numbers

NEW DELHI: The Delhi International Airport (Private) Limited is discussing with various stakeholders, including airlines, Air Traffic Control, Central Industrial Security Force and the Meteorological Department, a strategy to reduce inconvenience to passengers during the fog season, according to its Chief Operating Officer Andrew Harrison.

Mr. Harrison said on Wednesday that in order to coordinate operations during the fog period, a centralised Emergency Response and Interactive Centre would be set up. “There will be additional information about the status of flights. We would request passengers to provide their mobile numbers while booking their tickets, so that the airlines can keep updating them,” he added.

DIAL has assured that it will deploy 60 specially-trained Customer Service Staff to provide assistance and information to passengers, who will be pressed into service by mid-December.

An increased number of payphones have been added at the airport to help passengers stay in touch with their friends and relatives. In addition, DIAL is establishing a call centre that will share available flight information and airlines’ contact numbers. “This year 55 parking bays at the domestic aircraft apron have been provided with CAT III-compatible lighting systems against 25 last year. We have also added four new rapid exit taxiways to speed up aircraft movement,” said Mr. Harrison.

Last year, he said, Low-Visibility-Procedures (that are put in place when the visibility is below 800 metres) were implemented on 30 occasions. Also, operations at the airport had to be suspended thrice last year as runway-visual-range fell below 50 metres.

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