New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS) The fog in the capital cleared as the day progressed Sunday but several flights to and from Delhi were cancelled, delayed or diverted due to a backlog from the previous day, airport officials said. The city also experienced light winter showers.
At least 45 domestic departures and 25 arrivals were delayed by three to eight hours while 17 international flights were diverted Saturday due to thick fog over the national capital and a cable fault at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

But at least six domestic flights - including those to Amritsar, Srinagar and Leh - were cancelled due to poor weather conditions at their destinations. Some international flights were delayed by a few hours around midnight due to dense fog at that time. Twelve domestic flights were also delayed, the official added.

However, officials said flight operations were back to normal from Sunday afternoon.

“The flight operations are normal since afternoon. The standby arrangements for yesterday’s (Saturday) snag at the airport have already been done. Operations are normal from the two main runways,” the spokesperson for the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) told IANS.

The official assured that there would be no problem in late night operations but if visibility drops to less than 50 metres, flight operations would definitely be hit.

The visibility on the runways at the airport Sunday improved to 600 metres. Thick fog Saturday had severely hit services at the airport and the heavy backlog led to cancellation of flights Sunday.

The visibility on the runways Saturday had fallen to below 125 metres against the minimum 150 metres required for a flight to take off or land, leading to cancellation or diversion of nearly 40 domestic and international flights.

An Air India London-Delhi flight which was diverted to Mumbai Saturday left passengers high and dry. They had no clue about take-off or landing for over 10 hours before they returned to the national capital.

Delhi Sunday recorded a minimum temperature of 9.5 degrees Celsius, two notches above what is the average for this time of the season. The maximum temperature was recorded at 15.3 degrees Celsius, seven degrees below the average, making it one of the coldest days of the season.