The regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today issued guidelines to handle chaotic situations as was seen yesterday due to fog in 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.

In an unprecedented incident in India’s civil aviation, a man slapped the pilot of an IndiGo flight inside the parked aircraft yesterday. Some yelled at the ground staff of airlines. Hundreds aggressively stood around check-in counters in Delhi airport, demanding to know when would they fly.

And now visuals have emerged on social media showing people sitting in groups and eating meals on the tarmac, next to an aircraft.

Such was the scale of flight disruptions in Delhi airport due to fog yesterday.

“… Passengers of IndiGo Goa-Delhi who after 12-hour delayed flight got diverted to Mumbai having dinner just next to IndiGo plane,” a user on X said in a video post.

passengers of IndiGo Goa-Delhi who after 12 hours delayed flight got diverted to Mumbai having dinner just next to indigo plane pic.twitter.com/jGL3N82LNS

— JΛYΣƧΉ  (@baldwhiner) January 15, 2024

In the video, the exhausted passengers are seen sitting on the tarmac just a few steps away from an IndiGo plane, and having their meals.

Smooth coordination in Delhi airport broke down yesterday after hundreds of passengers of delayed flights demanded answers from the airlines.

The Delhi airport chaos led to a cascading effect in many airports.

The stressful day also saw the passenger of an IndiGo flight attacking a pilot inside the plane while it was on the tarmac.

Air India in a statement today said it regrets the disruption to operations arising from the last few days’ dense fog in north India, including at “our main Delhi hub, which resulted in some diversions and desynchronisation of aircraft and crew rotations.”

India is currently seeing an “exponential growth” and can end up a “10 trillion US dollar economy maybe in a decade,” Borge Brende, the President of the World Economic Forum told NDTV in an exclusive interview today. Speaking to NDTV from Davos, where the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is in progress, Mr Brende likened the India growth story to a snowball, which ‘grows bigger and bigger’ once it is given a push.  

“We expect things will continue with reforms, there is also peace, no conflict, there is transparency, fight against red tape, investment, R&D, and infrastructure,’ he told NDTV.  

Asked what could be the key drivers for Indian growth in the days to come, he said what is working for India now is that it is “positioned in areas where the demand grows faster than in other areas… India is capitalizing on this”.  

Drawing the contrast with the Chinese economy, which is entirely based on manufacturing, Mr Brende said India needs to intensify its focus on its services industry, digital trade and e-commerce.

While digital trade is only 15 per cent of the global economy, it grows twice as fast as any other trade area, he said.  

But while India is “incredibly successful economy for the time being,” it has to continue with the reforms, Mr Brende pointed out, since there is “no such thing as free lunch”.

Asked whether the border tension with China is a concern, Mr Brende said everyone is watching it “very closely”.

“But I don’t think there is any interest in the Indian or Chinese side to escalate it because that would be very unfortunate”.

The annual report of the WEF has focused on the multiple challenges the world is facing today — including wars and the ongoing struggles with living expenses and the escalating effects of climate change.