Published on: Dec 30, 2025 09:17 am IST
The flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed that over 150 flights were delayed at the Delhi airport between midnight and 8am
Dense fog enveloped Delhi on Tuesday, delaying over 150 flights, even as the air quality improved marginally and was in the higher end of the “very poor” category. The visibility dropped to 100 metres at Palam by 10:30pm on Monday, and remained 50 metres until 5:30am on Tuesday. At Safdarjung, visibility fell to 50 around midnight and remained in this range until around 8am. At 8:30am, it improved to 200 metres.
Fog is classified as shallow when visibility is between 500 and 1000 metres, moderate between 200 and 500 metres, dense between 50 and 200 metres, and very dense when it dips below 50 metres.
A red alert was issued around 10:30pm for Delhi as visibility dipped to 100 metres at Palam. A yellow alert is in place for New Year’s Eve for moderate to dense fog.
The flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed that over 150 flights were delayed between midnight and 8am. On Monday, over 550 flights were delayed, 130 cancelled, and eight diverted. Northern Railways said some trains were running late on Tuesday morning.
A 24-hour rolling average air quality Index (AQI) of 388 (very poor) was recorded at 8am on Tuesday, compared to 401 (severe) at 4pm on Monday, the fifth such day this month and the eighth overall this year.
December is on track to be the most polluted since 2018, with the average monthly AQI of 349 until December 29, the highest since it was 360 seven years back.