Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday announced an action plan for airports to resolve the frequent disruptions caused by fog in recent days in domestic and international flight operations. The Union Minister also outlined new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to minimize passenger inconvenience.

Taking to Additionally, the central government has also sought incident reporting three times daily for all six metro airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai.

Scindia further informed that ‘war rooms’ will be set up by airports and airline operators at all six metro airports to immediately resolve any issues regarding inconvenience to passengers. Additionally, availability of adequate CISF manpower will be ensured round the clock at the airports.

Highlighting the new guidelines issued by the Centre, Scindia said Delhi airport’s runway 29L has been turned CAT III, allowing it to handle take-offs and departures even during low visibility scenarios . Runway 10/28 – with CAT III status – will be commissioned as soon as the re-carpeting work is completed, he said.

The new rules were issued after seeing widespread criticism from passengers amid widespread delays in flight operations. Tension escalated on Sunday as high-voltage drama unfolded at the Delhi airport, with passengers standing in queues on the runway for hours to board the plane. In fact, on Sunday, a video of an IndiGo passenger went viral on social media, when he assaulted the captain of the flight to Goa.