A Bhopal-based liquor baron hired a 180-seater Airbus A320 to fly his daughter, two granddaughters and a nanny to New Delhi, to avoid crowd on board a regular passenger flight, said airport officials here.
“The flight, belonging to a private carrier, was the first to fly from Bhopal on May 25,” said an official of the Raja Bhoj Airport here. “The family was stuck here since the lockdown kicked in.”
The flight touched down in Bhopal from New Delhi around 10.30 a.m. carrying only the crew and took off around 11.30 a.m with the four persons, said the official. “The movement of private chartered flights in on. But this became news since a bigger plane was hired,” he said.
Raja Bhoj Airport Director Anil Vikram refused to comment on the flight.
The cost of hiring the plane, factoring in a slump in the price of aviation turbine fuel recently, would be close to ₹20 lakh, said an aviation expert.
The demand for chartered flights had spiked after the domestic airspace was reopened on May 25, said an official of a travel firm. “Many are concerned about contracting the infection on flight and at airports. In any case, flyers were blamed initially for unknowingly carrying the virus.”