Large number of flights were cancelled across the country on Monday, as domestic passenger flight operations resumed after two months.
IMAGE: Passengers wait at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport for domestic travel, following the resumption of domestic flights, in Guwahati, Monday, May 25, 2020. Photograph: PTI Photo
Arrival and departure of 80 flights at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport were cancelled, officials said.
Earlier, the flight schedule was made for all airports including those in West Bengal (flight operations from May 28), Maharashtra (25 take-offs and 25 landings every day) and Chennai (incoming passenger flights restricted to 25).
In Chennai, while a total of 34 flights were originally scheduled to depart, as many as 15 of them were cancelled, including some of those headed for Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi.
A total of 16 flights were scheduled to arrive in Chhenai through the day, according to the Centre’s decision as Tamil Nadu government had demanded capping such services to 25 per day, while 19 outbound services were scheduled from the city, they said.
The cities covered by arrival and departure flights include Delhi, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Port Blair.
As many as 20 flights were operated to and from the Mumbai airport till 12.45 pm on Monday.
Budget carrier IndiGo was the first carrier to recommence air services to and from Mumbai airport with the departure of its flight to Patna at 6.45 am and its first flight arriving from Lucknow at 8.20 am.
At Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, over 30 flights scheduled to depart were cancelled.
About 60 departures and 54 arrivals were expected in Bengaluru on Monday, officials said.
According to them, some passengers opted for cancellation at the last moment, like in the case of the Bengaluru to Hyderabad flight.
There are also reports of cancellation of some flights from Sambra airport in Belagavi and Mangaluru airport.
Among the passengers who arrived at Bengaluru airport on Monday was five-year-old Vihaan Sharma, who travelled alone from Delhi.
His mother was seen anxiously waiting to meet her son after three months.
As per the state government standard operating procedure those passengers who have travelled from high COVID-19 prevalence states were shifted to hotels for seven days of institutional quarantine by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses, specially arranged for the purpose.
In Bhubaneswar, five flights out of the 10 scheduled to arrive on Monday were cancelled.
“As of now, out of 10 flights which were scheduled for today, five flights have been cancelled,” said the Director, Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar.
“One flight has already landed (Vistara’s flight from Delhi) and the other four flights will land in the evening today,” he added.
Vistara started its operation with the first flight to Bhubaneswar from the national capital.
Vistara Air UK-785 departed for Bhubaneswar with 95 passengers at 6.50 am on Monday. All passengers were screened before boarding the flight at Delhi’s IGI airport.
“We’re strictly following the government’s guidelines to ensure safety against COVID19. Today has been a different experience as we’re not used to wearing protective gear over our uniforms. All passengers followed the guidelines,” a flight attendant on Vistara’s Delhi-Bhubaneswar flight said.
Passengers deboarding were seen wearing face shields as a precautionary measure against COVID-19.
— with PTI inputs
