New Delhi: Airspace closures over parts of West Asia continued to disrupt flight operations, leading to the cancellation of 104 flights to and from Delhi on Sunday. Delhi airport wrote on X that due to the ongoing political developments in West Asia, west-bound international flights may face delays or scheduled adjustments. “Passengers are strongly encouraged to contact their respective airlines for the latest flight information before heading to the airport,” it added.Many passengers took to social media to say that they were stranded at Delhi airport.An airport official said: “At least 104 flights, including 62 departures and 42 arrivals, were cancelled until Sunday evening. Most of them were cancelled on Saturday, and passengers were intimated in advance.” As many airspaces remained closed, several flights, including domestic ones, were delayed. According to FlightRadar24, the live flight tracking website, over 300 flights, including around 250 arrivals, were delayed at Delhi airport. The average delay time for arrivals was nearly 25 minutes. Apart from West Asia, flights to and from Delhi were impacted on other routes such as London, Birmingham, Zurich, Amsterdam, Milan, Vienna, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Chicago, New York and Paris. Harsh, a passenger whose Delhi-Toronto flight via Doha was cancelled on Saturday, wrote on X, “I haven’t received any rescheduled flight until now. Please reschedule my flight ASAP as I am stuck here at the airport in Delhi.” Gordon Dimmack, who was travelling to England after arriving from Phuket, was among the passengers stranded in Delhi for over 24 hours. In a series of posts on X, Dimmack said the bombing began shortly after they landed in Delhi, following which passengers were asked to get off the aircraft after waiting for nearly three hours. He described the terminal as “chaotic”. He and his wife eventually slept on bean bags that were provided only after screaming at airline staff, he said.“After nearly 20 hours stuck at this airport, all we had been given to eat was one egg sandwich, two tiny bottles of water, and a bottle of foul-tasting juice,” he said, adding that another sandwich was later provided. In another update posted on Sunday evening, Dimmack said the situation was gradually improving, with airline staff beginning to reroute passengers on alternative flights, and he was returning to Thailand. Another X user, in a series of posts, claimed that his daughter and son-in-law were stuck at Delhi airport after their flight to Tel Aviv was diverted to Delhi. “Their port of origin is Jammu. They are getting mixed responses from the staff for tickets to Jammu,” the user said. Many passengers also asked on social media about the status of their upcoming flights.
