At least 13 flights were diverted out of the New Delhi airport on Saturday evening due to movement of VIPs, news agency ANI reported quoting officials. At about 9 pm, the Delhi Airport's website showed nearly 90 domestic flights arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport had been delayed or diverted. By 10:30 pm, most of the delayed flights had landed.
Many flights were delayed for over an hour. One Jet Airways flight from Patna that was scheduled to land at 2:50 pm, eventually arrived at 8:59 pm - a delay of more than six hours.
A high frequency of VIP chartered planes landing at Delhi airport caused the delay, sources in the Delhi Air Traffic Control told ANI.
The Delhi airport through its three runways handles nearly 1200 flight movements each day, with flight movements reaching nearly 70 during peak hours. The airport is likely to see even more congestion and delays in the coming days with the maintenance of runway 11/29 scheduled from November 7 to November 10 which will see flight movements come down to just 45 per hour.
ANI