Amid excessive flight delays due to foggy weather, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday (15 January) issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) to airlines regarding flight cancellations due to excessive delays during adverse weather conditions.

According to the aviation regulator, “Facilities are to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights.”

The airlines are also required to publish the reference of the civil aviation requirement (CAR) on the flight tickets.

DGCA has issued the CAR to ensure appropriate protection for air travelers in case of flight disruptions and, in particular, denied boardings, flight cancellations, and delays without due notice to the passengers booked on the flights.

It is, accordingly, obligatory on the part of all airlines to mandatorily adhere to the provisions of the above CAR, DGCA maintains.

However, in case of force majeure events which are extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the airline, the provisions of the above CAR are not applicable.

Given the fog-induced disruptions and adverse weather conditions at various airports including Delhi Airport causing delays, cancellations and inconvenience to passengers, the standard operating procedures (SOPs) are mandated in the public interest.

According to the SOP, 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 and also through advance information to affected passengers by SMS/WhatsApp and email.

Airlines are required to display updated information regarding flight delays to passengers waiting at the airports.

The airport airline staff will undergo appropriate sensitisation to suitably communicate with and continuously guide and inform the passengers about flight delays.

Given the prevalent fog season and adverse weather conditions, airlines may cancel, sufficiently in advance, such flights that are anticipated to be delayed or consequentially delayed on account of such conditions beyond a period of 3 hours to prevent congestion at the airport and mitigate passenger inconvenience.

The DGCA maintains that all airlines shall mandatorily adhere to the above SOP with immediate effect.