Rahul Gandhi on Friday got firsthand experience of the "usual" disrupted operations during winters at Patna airport.
The Congress vice-president's private jet was scheduled to land at the airport around 1.20pm so that he could attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Grand Alliance government on time. But it landed around 2.45pm, by when the ceremony was halfway through.
Baffled with the delay, Rahul expressed his angst on Twitter at 3pm: "Flight delayed by more than an hour due to air traffic control and related issues. Just landed in Patna! On my way to Gandhi Maidan now." Rahul was flying in a Citation 560 plane designed and manufactured by Cessna Aircraft Company. The aircraft can hold 11 passengers and two crew members.
Sources at the airport said that foggy conditions coupled with sudden overcrowding of chartered aircraft in the Patna airspace led to a number of flights, including Rahul's, being delayed in the morning.
"The minimum visibility criterion for landing of scheduled flights at Patna airport is 1,200m, which happened around 11.30pm after which the scheduled flights were allowed to land. Besides, the minimum visibility criterion for landing of small chartered aircraft in Patna is 1,700m. Thus, all chartered aircraft, including that of Rahul, started landing after 1pm," said a senior official at the air traffic control (ATC) office at Patna airport.
The officer added that the take-off of most flights was delayed from Delhi owing to fog at the national capital.
"There was a temporary commotion in air traffic in most Patna-bound routes in the morning. Most flights were delayed and we allowed them to land in a sequential manner. We gave permission for landing one by one according to their initial line-up," said the ATC official.
Owing to the foggy conditions in Patna as well as in Delhi, Jet Airways Calcutta-Patna flight 9W 2684, which was scheduled to land at the city airport at 11am, was cancelled. Similarly, IndiGo airlines' Delhi-Patna flight 6E 494, which was scheduled to land here at 12.15pm, had to be diverted.
Sources said the sudden rise in the number of chartered aircraft headed for Patna also led to pressure on the ATC on Friday. "A total of 11 chartered flights landed on Friday carrying VVIPs, including chief ministers of several states, who had come to participate in the oath-taking ceremony," said the ATC official.
Airport director Rajendra Singh Lahauria said none of the charted aircraft carrying the dignitaries was given undue preference in landing. "Even after the delay because of fog, all flights were allowed to land in a sequential manner without giving preference to any of the chartered aircraft," said Lahauria.
