After 2 months of lockdown\, domestic flights to take off with restrictions

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After 2 months of lockdown, domestic flights to take off with restrictions

Our Bureau New Delhi | Updated on May 24, 2020 Published on May 24, 2020

All set Planes parked at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Mahraj International Airport in Mumbai, on Sunday   -  PTI

A limited number of flights, about 25, will be allowed to land and take off from Mumbai on Monday when flying resumes after two months.

This follows hectic talks among various stakeholders after Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister, Maharashtra, took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to announce that he had spoken to Hardeep Puri, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, regarding the schedule of domestic flights in Maharashtra.

He said till Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) plans and fine-tunes operations, minimum possible domestic flights — purely on emergency basis such as for transfer of international passengers, for medical emergencies, transfer of students and cases on compassionate grounds — must be initiated from Maharashtra from May 25. Incidentally, Delhi-Mumbai is one of the busiest air routes in the world.

At a meeting with the authorities, the airlines were asked to reschedule the flights on some routes that they plan to operate from May 25. The airlines had earlier submitted a revised summer schedule. The government banned domestic and international flight operations from March 25.

Kolkata will see 10 flights land and take off from May 28. It was reported late on Saturday night that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would urge the Centre to postpone resumption of domestic flights to later this month.

Hyderabad is likely to see 15 arrivals and 15 departures from tomorrow. Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada will start receiving flights from May 26. The number of flights to these cities has not been specified, but will be 20 per cent of the approved summer schedule.

Passengers boarding flights could also face other hardships as some States have issued directives that those arriving by domestic flights will need to be quarantined.

Quarantine measures

The Kerala government has said that after obtaining the flight tickets, the travellers will have to register their details in Covid-19 Jagratha following the link https://covid19jagratha.kerala.nic.in. The State will issue a travel permit with a QR code in the registered mobile number and email. The airlines’ staff members will insist on the details of entry pass obtained from covid19jagratha before issuing the boarding pass. All persons entering the State will have to remain under home quarantine for 14 days from the date of arrival.

Similarly, the Uttarakhand government has said all passengers will be kept in institutional quarantine for a time period specified by the health authorities/State government unless they show symptoms which require keeping them in medical facilities. Odisha has also mandated a 14-day quarantine for those coming to the State on different flights.

Published on May 24, 2020

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