532 flights take off on day one; Most bookings on Delhi-Patna route

New Delhi, May 26: Two months after the nationwide lockdown, as many as 532 domestic flights took to the Indian skies Monday, the first day of resumption of air services.

According to reports, demand for non-metro routes is higher than metro routes, with the Delhi-Patna route witnessing the highest number of bookings for the travel period between May 25 and May 31.

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Taking to Twitter, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, "From no domestic passenger flights till yesterday to 532 flights and 39,231 passengers today, action has returned to Indian skies. With Andhra Pradesh set to resume operations from tomorrow and West Bengal from 28 May, these numbers are all set to increase further."

It is reportedly said that the Delhi-Patna route has the highest demand, Delhi-Patna most bookings followed by sectors such as Delhi-Bagdogra, Mumbai-Varanasi, Bengaluru-Patna, Delhi-Srinagar, etc.

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Earlier, around 2,700 domestic flights operated in the country on a normal day. According to the standard operating procedures issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, only a third of those flights can be functional now.

At Mumbai airport, 47 flights were operated that helped to a total of 4,852 passengers, which include 3,752 passengers at departures and 1,100 at arrivals.

It can be seen that the first flight to take-off from Delhi was IndiGo's service to Pune, which departed at 5 am. Those who took the first flight out of the capital included paramilitary and army personnel, students and migrants.