New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) The current weather conditions and disturbances due to easterly winds are likely to cause issues during landing and departure of flights at the Delhi airport, with the authorities putting in place air traffic flow management measures to prevent possible delays.

Also, the temporary closure of runway RW 10/28 at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has resulted in reduced flight arrival capacity at the airport on an hourly basis.

IGIA, operated by the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), is the country’s largest and busiest airport, handling around 1,300 flight movements daily.

“Due to shifting wind patterns in the vicinity of the airport, certain airline operations may experience delays.

“Air Traffic Flow Management measures for flight arrivals will be implemented from 1630 IST till 2030 IST today by ATC authorities to ensure safe operations, in accordance with international and regulatory protocols, keeping passenger safety as the highest priority,” DIAL said in a post on X on Friday afternoon.

Similar advisories were issued by the airport operator earlier in the day and on Thursday.

A senior Air Traffic Controller (ATC) explained that Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) measures are generally implemented to ensure that there is no delay for aircraft before landing at an airport.

At Delhi airport, RW 10/28 is temporarily closed for maintenance works and that has reduced the arrival capacity at the airport. Now, around 31-32 aircraft, both scheduled and non-scheduled, can arrive per hour, while it was 45 planes per hour when RW 10/28 was available for operations, the controller told PTI.

With the current weather conditions in the national capital, the controller also said there are disturbances due to the easterly winds which can cause issues during landing and departure of flights.

According to DIAL, all other operations across terminals and three runways at the airport continue to function normally.

The airport has four runways — RW 09/27, RW 11R/29L, RW 11L/29R and RW 10/28.

The runway RW 10/28, where one side is not compliant for CAT III, was closed for operations this week for carrying out maintenance work. A CAT III facility allows aircraft operations in low-visibility conditions.

On April 11, Delhi airport CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar told PTI that the maintenance works of the runway RW 10/28 will be completed by September, well before the fog season.

DIAL is “working ahead of time” to ensure that on RW 10/28, the 10th side is also CAT III compliant so that during fog season, there is zero disruption till the visibility is 50 metres, he said at a briefing on the same day. PTI RAM DRR