Flights resume across the country today after two months.
Two months into coronavirus lockdown, India resumed domestic flights this morning bringing relief to the aviation sector that has been facing huge losses since the pandemic began.
The first domestic flight took off from New Delhi for Pune at 4:45 am, days after Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri made the big announcement on resumption of flights.
Among the states that had initially resisted the decision, Tamil Nadu has listed out SOPs for the passengers arriving in the state.
Last week, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu - home to some of the country's busiest airports in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai - had red-flagged the centre's plan to restart passenger flights
Last week, Hardeep Puri had indicated that the government was not in favour of quarantining passengers on short-haul flights and that the larger question of quarantining would have to be dealt with in a "pragmatic manner". "Why are we making a fuss over quarantine? Positive cases won't be boarding and there can be asymptomatic people. The quarantine issue will be dealt with in a pragmatic manner. We can't have 14 days quarantine... it is not practical," the aviation minister said.
Here are the live updates on India resuming domestic flights
Passengers from different parts of the country arrive at Chennai airport as domestic flight operations resume from today, news agency ANI reports. A passenger at the airport says, "I had gone to Delhi for internship, but got stuck there for two months due to CoronavirusLockdown."
New rules for domestic travel during the lockdown were released by the government on Sunday, including advising passengers to download the Aarogya Setu application on their mobile devices and asking states to ensure thermal screening at departure point of airports, railway stations and bus terminals.
Air travel resumed across India this morning, two months after the lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, bringing relief to the aviation sector that was on the brink of collapse.
Passengers Say Not Informed About Cancellations: Flights Cancelled In Delhi, Mumbai We brought back more than 30,000 stranded Indians on Vande Bharat flights since 6 May 2020.
- Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 25, 2020
We flew 917 tons of medical & essential cargo on Lifeline UDAN flights since 26 March 2020.
Today, we restart domestic flights.
India's civil aviation is always on the forefront.
Gujarat: Passengers from different parts of the country arrive at Ahmedabad airport as domestic flight operations resume today, amid COVID19 lockdown pic.twitter.com/MDwXJaeUII
- ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2020
