Delhi Airport issues advisory to flyers amid spike in air pollution; AQI hits 'severe plus' category in some areas

The Delhi Airport issued has an advisory as air quality deteriorated further in the national capital on Tuesday. The update came less than a day after the Central air quality panel for Delhi-NCR imposed Stage IV curbs under a revamped pollution control plan.

“Low visibility procedures are in progress at Delhi Airport. All flight operations are presently normal. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information,” an official update urged.

According to an update from the India Meteorological Department, moderate fog conditions (visibility between 200m and 500m) are likely to persist in Delhi over the next two days due to the expected prevalence of calm or easterly surface winds.

Air quality in the national capital region plunged into the ‘severe’ category on Tuesday morning — with an AQI of 427. Some of the monitoring stations in the national capital also saw air quality breach the 450 mark that is classified as ‘severe plus’.

An AQI of 400 or higher is deemed "severe" and it can have an adverse effect on both healthy individuals and people with medical conditions. 

The air quality is the NCR is not expected to improve soon.

“Mainly calm winds prevailed over Delhi during the past 24 hours, bringing down visibility from 800 meters in shallow fog at Palam on Monday to 350 meters in moderate fog at Safdarjung on Tuesday morning,” read an update from the weather department.

The Centre's air quality panel for Delhi-NCR on Monday imposed the strictest Stage 4 curbs under the winter air pollution control plan, including a ban on all construction activities, as the region's air quality deteriorated to 'severe' due to unfavourable weather conditions. Stage 4 curbs under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for winters also include a ban on the entry of polluting trucks carrying non-essential goods into Delhi and mandatory shifting of school classes, except those for X and XII, to hybrid mode.

(With inputs from agencies)