As India continues to be in a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, all flights across the country, including domestic and international have been suspended, with the exception of essential carglo flights.
Due to the suspension, passengers who had already booked their tickets to flights scheduled for this period have taken to social media platforms for their inquiries as call centre operations too have been affected by the lockdown. The Delhi Airport, during this period, has received the highest traffic on its social media handles and its online traffic witnesses high growth in wake of the situation, according to a statement.
According to the statement that cited Konnect Insights data, Delhi Airport recorded the highest engagement levels and use of proactive communication through its social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram March 15 and March 30.
"While the whole country was in a state of lockdown, our social media 24X7 command center remained fully functional just like any other essential service at the airport. The cutting edge cloud-based technology deployed by us ensured that the team could operate remotely from their home and adhere to the 21 days lockdown," CEO of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said.
The official also said that the airport will continue to respond to people's queries. "We still continue to respond almost real-time to the passengers’ queries and engage with them proactively through advisories and updates. It has also helped us in gathering insight into the situation on the ground through online conversations. The team’s contribution is truly on the lines of #WorkFromHub culture promoted during the COVID-19 crises,” Jaipuriar said.
Notably, the Delhi Airport published 99 proactive posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram combined, between March 15 and March 30, maximum by any global airport. On the second spot was Bangalore with 80 proactive posts followed by LAX and Heathrow with 74 and 68 proactive posts, respectively, said the statement.
It also informed that passengers relied on the Delhi Airport’s social media handles for any information, such as flight status, availability of transport (taxi, metro, etc), the status of lockdown and critical travel-related information and advisories issued by the government on regular basis.