Weather blues: Fog delays 12 flights

KARACHI:

A thick fog in the city dropped visibility to 50 metres and led to a delay of 12 flights from the airport on Thursday night.

The fog hit the city at around 2am and lasted till around 8am, reported the Pakistan Meterological Office. Soon after the sun rose, visibility increased and the rescheduled flights were given clearance to fly again. The Met office has forecasted that the fog will occur on and off till March and April. "It was not just Karachi, it is happening all over Sindh" said a Met official.

Meanwhile, the passengers who had planes to catch did face hurdles. "My mother's flight to Qatar was delayed for four and a half hours," said a passenger's daughter. Due to the delay, she missed connecting flights to Hong Kong and Vancouver. Approximately 12 flights were delayed till 10am, said Rana M Hanif, a spokesperson for Pakistan International Airlines. "It [delays] may happen again today as the weather forecasts show there will be fog again from 5am to 9am," he said. Two flights that had arrived at Jinnah International airport from Jeddah and Bahrain had to turn back.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.