ENARADA, Bengaluru, January 9, 2016
By Guruprasad
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Thousands of commuters travelling from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), Bengaluru were hit on Saturday as dense fog engulfed the entire area. As a result, around 30 flight schedules were delayed with the visibility level nose-diving to 125 metres.
However, the worst part was that the flyers were made to sit inside the flight for more than three hours. “I was travelling from Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar and boarded the Indigo flight (6E 266) Bengaluru-Hyderabad-Bhubaneswar hopping flight at 6.20 am. It was to take off at 6.40 am though it finally flew only at 9.30 am. It was a harrowing time to sit in the crammed space,” said an air passenger. Meanwhile, the waiting area inside the airport too became crowded and long queues were seen near the toilets.
Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun M Kharge, who was travelling to Hyderabad, was also forced to sit in the aircraft for 3 hours. Photos by WWW.ENARADA.COM
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Meanwhile, 10-month old baby Aahistaa’s father Sougat Mahapatra was seen having a tough time putting her to sleep. He told prolonged delay made his daughter’s first flight journey memorable.
Amidst the commotion, there were tense and joyous moments. Nitish Harihar had travelled all the night from Salem to reach KIA to catch an early morning flight to Hyderabad. He was desperate to be with his wife who was due for her first pregnancy. However, as the flight got delayed, he received a call of being a proud father for his baby boy. As he broke open in tears, the co-passengers wished him with a loud applause.
Sougat Mahapatra, techie tries to put his 10 month old daughter Aahistaa to sleep.
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After the visibility improved, the delayed flights departed as per sequence and around 25 flights were waiting to take off. Meanwhile, the foggy conditions in Bengaluru and New Delhi disturbed the flight schedules across the country with major airports reporting delayed departure and arrivals. It may be recalled that commuters were stranded for hours in New Delhi for the last few days as the visibility level had reduced to less than 100 meters.
Excited Nitish Harihar gets up when pilot announced his name.
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