Air India, India's national carrier, has geared up for the upcoming fog problem that airlines face during winters in the northern region. Air India will be rescheduling a few of its flights in order to minimise inconvenience to passengers. The rescheduling is as follows:
United States flights: There is no change in the flight schedule.
UK & Canada: The Delhi / Dhaka / Kolkata / London flights will originate from Mumbai and not from Delhi. Inbound flights from the United Kingdom will however operate from Delhi and terminate in Mumbai.
The Toronto bound flight via Amritsar and Birmingham will originate and terminate in Mumbai omitting Delhi in both directions.
East-bound flights: Seoul and Osaka bound flights originating from Mumbai via Delhi and Hong Kong will depart an hour earlier than the original scheduled time. The Mumbai / Delhi / Bangkok / Shanghai flights will operate 3 hours and 15 minutes behind schedule.
South East Asia: The AI-480/481 will operate on Sunday and Thursday instead of Monday and Friday in order to connect to the Dubai bound flight AI-747/746 departing from Delhi. The flight destined for Kuala Lumpur will depart from Mumbai but omit Delhi. However, the same flight will return to Mumbai via Delhi.
Gulf: There is no change in the Jeddah / Lucknow/Delhi and the Mumbai/ Muscat /Abu Dhabi / Delhi flight schedules.
Domestic flights: The Delhi / Lucknow / Delhi will not be operational during the fog period. AI-638/639 Delhi / Amritsar / Delhi flights stand cancelled till the fog period has passed.
The establishment of the Operations Contingency Cell (OCC) for the effective handling of flights from Delhi during the anticipated Fog period (December 15, 2006 to February 15, 2007) was successfully achieved under the charge of the executive director (operations). The cell comprises 21 executive pilots (16 at Mumbai and 5 at Delhi) who will work in shifts, and will be accessible either via phone or via flight dispatch to handle queries addressed by passengers.
The main functions of the OCC are:
- To obtain weather data on a regular basis to maintain fog watch.
- To make an assessment of the forecast.
- To liaison closely with ATC and MET departments.
- To advise the Flight Monitoring and Control Team (FMCT), i.e. Control Cell, Commercial and Engineering).
- Upon receiving feedback from the concerned departments, the OCC will also undertake other responsibilities such as:
- Reschedule flights which are likely to be affected by poor visibility conditions in consultation with FMCT/ Mumbai.
- When rescheduling prior to departure is not possible, due to uncertain weather conditions, lack of notice time, etc., flights will be re-routed either at departure or at en route stations.
- Optimize aircraft and crew utilization between Mumbai and Delhi at the time of disposal of stranded passengers.
- The OCC will maintain functional control from the Flight Dispatch Office in Mumbai with assistance from the OCC in Delhi through the Flight Dispatch Office. The Flight Dispatch office in London will also closely monitor the weather in Delhi and liaison with the OCC executives in Delhi for flights departing from London and France into Delhi.
The other arrangements to ensure customer comfort are as follows:
- Manpower in the Delhi and Mumbai call centres will be strengthened by additional temporary recruitment.
- Stickers bearing emergency telephone numbers such as call centre numbers would be provided to all passengers at the time of check-in and would also be affixed on the tickets. Emergency telephone numbers would also be announced during in-flight announcements.
- Important passenger information will be incorporated in Namaskar magazine and on the Air India Web site.
- Passenger luggage will be forwarded on the first available flight in case of flight diversions to Mumbai.
- Mini-booking offices in Delhi and Mumbai can be approached for re-issuance and other fog related reservation activity.
- Hotel accommodation would be facilitated at hotels in close proximity to the airport in order to avoid any inconvenience for the passengers.
- Mumbai and Delhi airports will provide catering facilities such as snack boxes and beverage vending machines to ensure passenger comfort.
- Additional slumberettes have been accommodated for passenger convenience in the transit lounge.
- 10 to 15 trainees from various Institutes will be kept on standby to be requisitioned on night shifts, if disruptions are significant.