Domestic flight operations resume at Delhi airport after two months of lockdown

NEW DELHI: Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has finally resumed one-third of the domestic flight services on Monday, exactly two months after it had suspended these operations due to coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Of the 380 flights that were scheduled to depart and arrive, till 10am, 82 of them were cancelled due to restrictions from other states.

The first flight took off at 4.30am. From the check-in facility to checking-out, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) assures that there would be minimum human-to-human contact.

On Saturday, DIAL announced that it is all set to provide a "safe and healthy environment" to passengers flying out of IGIA. Minister of civil aviation announced on May 20 that domestic flight operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday. Commercial operations of domestic and international flights were suspended since March 24.

Since the flight bookings were going on in full swing, officials say that they are expecting at least 60 per cent of the flights to be occupied and said that the airlines would ensure that the safety norms are followed at all hours. Against what was decided earlier, now the airport authorities will have four shops at the airport selling PPE kits along with other necessary safety gears for passengers.

Several measures have been taken, including installation of automatic hand sanitizer at more than 400 spots at the airport, putting floor markers, allocation of entry gates and check-in islands for departure passengers to encourage compliance of social distancing norms and minimise human contact at the airport.