DGCA Issues New SOPs For Delayed Flights Amid Fog At Delhi Airport

New Delhi: Amid stressful and chaotic situations such as a passenger slapping the pilot and people eating on the tarmac in Mumbai due to a delayed flight, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday issued guidelines to handle the predicament due to fog at Delhi airport.

The DGCA in the standard operating procedure (SOP) for “facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights”, said that airlines may cancel flights that are likely to be delayed or “consequentially delayed” beyond three hours. The DGCA said all airlines must follow the SOP immediately.

However, in the case of extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of airlines, the provisions of these rules are not applicable, the DGCA said.

What are the SOPs?

Airlines shall be required to publish accurate real-time information regarding delays of their flights, which shall be published on: the respective website of the airline; through advance information to affected passengers by SMS/WhatsApp and email; display of updated information regarding flight delays to passengers waiting at airports, and appropriate sensitisation of the airline staff at airports to suitably communicate with and continuously guide and inform passengers about flight delays.