2 flights circle fog-hit Lucknow 28 times in 2 days; returns to IGI airport

LUCKNOW: For 2 wintertime mornings, dense fog implicit Lucknow turned the skies into a maze for an Air India Express Boeing 737 MAX 8 operating formation from Delhi.On January 2 and January 4, the craft circled the metropolis 28 times, spending astir 171 minutes hovering supra Lucknow, lone to instrumentality to Delhi without landing.On January 4, IX217 formation reached Lucknow astatine 6.42 am. But the runway ocular scope (RVR) was lone 125 metres, acold beneath the DGCA-mandated minimum of 150 metres required for a harmless landing.Hoping the fog would clear, the pilots kept the craft successful a holding pattern. For 78 minutes till 8.01 am, the pitchy looped implicit the metropolis 11 times. When conditions didn't improve, the craft turned back, landing successful Delhi astatine 8.55 am.SalamAir OV705 from Muscat landed implicit 90 minutes precocious astatine 5.16 am, portion 2 Air India Express flights - IX2048 from Bengaluru and IX1026 from Mumbai - arrived 1 to 3 hours down schedule.On January 2, IX2171 faced astir identical conditions. It reached Lucknow astatine 6.18 am, and for the adjacent 93 minutes, it circled implicit the metropolis 17 times, waiting for a interruption successful the fog that ne'er came.