Cold nights with temperature dropping to a low of 11 degrees Celsius continued in Bengaluru, with fog during early hours disrupting at least 50 flights at the Kempegowda International Airport, officials said on Saturday.
"The maximum temperature in the city over the last 24 hours was 29 degrees Celsius. Fog and mist was common during early morning hours in most areas," the weather bulletin issued at 2 pm by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
While the minimum temperature in Bengaluru city was about 14 degree Celsius, the recording at the Kempegowda International Airport Ltd (KIAL) on the outskirts stood at about 11 degree Celsius.
Due to the fog, as many as 40 flights -- 28 departures and 12 arrivals -- were delayed, a statement from the airport operator Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) said.
"A total of 10 flights were diverted to Chennai, Coimbatore and Hyderabad," it said.
Fight operations were suspended at the airport from 7.04 am to 8.51 am owing to low visibility due to fog, the statement added.
During this week, a total of 209 flight schedules were affected between January 12 and January 18. Out of these, 10 flights scheduled to land in Bengaluru had to be diverted to Hyderabad or Chennai airports.
Out of the total 209 affected flight schedules, 124 flights were delayed for departure, while another 75 were delayed for arrival.
On four of the seven days, fog was the cause of the flight schedule changes, which led to about 50 flight schedules affected.
On Friday alone, a total of 67 flights were affected, including a BlueDart cargo flight which was diverted to China. Among the other 66 flights, 45 flights were delayed for departure and another 21 were delayed for arrival.
With IANS inputs