Patna, Nov. 11: Winter is yet to settle in Bihar and the air traffic control at Jaiprakash Narayan International Airport has gone for a toss. Flights are not being allowed to land before 10am because of fog and poor visibility.

Delay of around two-three hours in flights, scheduled to arrive after 8pm, is common. Delayed arrival has hit the departure schedule too. As this condition has prevailed for the past 10 days, several operators are mulling temporary withdrawal of few flights and are rescheduling others. However, Patna airport authorities are claiming that there would be no restriction on the operation of flights in spite of the foggy conditions.

“Flights are not being allowed to land at Patna airport before 10-11am since November 1. The delay is because of the stringent visibility conditions — minimum 1,600m visibility is required for landing — at Patna airport. But, aircraft are not able to meet the conditions and often hover because of the fog,” said a source at Patna airport.

On November 5, an Air India flight, scheduled to arrive at 8.30am, was diverted to Calcutta and finally arrived at 12.30pm. A GoAir flight the same day also arrived two-and-a-half hours later than its schedule. Slated to arrive at 9am, the flight reached Patna at 11.30am after being routed through Calcutta.

The next day, morning flights of Air India and Jet Airways arrived one hour late.

Staring at the frequent delays, operators are mulling to cancel a few flights. Jet Airways is likely to cancel operation of its Delhi-Patna evening flight from Patna airport from November 15. This flight, which operates on the Delhi-Patna-Delhi-Mumbai route, is scheduled to arrive at Patna airport at 6.50pm. Air India sources said a proposal has been sent to the central headquarters for withdrawal of its afternoon flight and rescheduling the timings of its morning and evening flights.

Authorities at Patna airport, though, claim that no restrictions would be imposed on the operators regarding the arrival and departure time of flights. “Operations of several morning and evening flights are being delayed but there would be no restrictions on the timings from our end. Such restrictions are not feasible as the number of flights operating from Patna airport has increased,” said a senior official of Patna Airport Authority. At present, 17 flights operate out of Patna airport.

While passengers and airlines are struggling with foggy conditions, internal problems of Kingfisher Airlines do not seem to have affected operations in Patna. “All our flights are operating from Patna airport according to schedule. In fact, the Delhi- and Mumbai-bound flights are running full these days,” said a source from Kingfisher Airlines.