KOLKATA: When the Alliance Air flight took off for Guwahati from Kolkata at 6.05am on Thursday, relief was palpable among passengers, airline staff and airport officials, all for different reasons.
People stranded away from home for over two months were finally glad to fly back to their families. Airlines employees in the city were glad to see operations resume after two months of uncertainty and tension when several colleagues and friends had either lost their jobs or were sent on leave without pay. Officials of the Airports Authority of India were relieved that Kolkata was back on the aviation map, albeit three days after rest of India.
Caught in the middle of an emergency following a monstrous cyclone that devastated the city, the state government had called for postponement of flight operations till Thursday and had asked the civil aviation ministry to schedule fewer flights initially so that it had time to prepare for issues like quarantine of suspects.
The fears weren’t unfounded. A passenger in his mid-40s travelling with his relatives to the city from Delhi was detected with fever and taken to the quarantine centre in New Town. If he or his family members test Covid-19 positive, those seated alongside as well as in the row in front and back will be alerted so that they can report at the onset of any Covid-like symptom. They have also been advised home quarantine for 14 days.
“One of the passengers who arrived from Delhi by an AirAsia flight had high temperature. He was asked to wait in an isolation chamber along with two relatives. They were given PPE kits and taken to the quarantine facility in an ambulance escorted by a police vehicle. After they exited, the isolation chamber was disinfected,” an airport official said.
On the first day of flight resumption, 1,745 passengers departed and 1,214 passengers arrived in the 11 flights that operated. In additional to the five IndiGo, two Spicejet and one Air India, AirAsia and Vistara flight, AI subsidiary Alliance Air also operated a flight to Dibrugarh on Thursday.
While passengers were looking forward to the restart of flights, there was confusion aplenty with some passengers arriving at the airport to discover that the flight had already taken off and others being told that their flight had been cancelled. Initially, airlines had opened bookings in over 80 flights that were to operate daily but had to later reduce the number of flights to 11.
Incoming passengers also admitted that flying had turned from a pleasurable experience to one that was anxiety-prone and claustrophobic with masks, face shields and gloves to protect themselves from the unknown Covid carrier. Many flyers also questioned the stress on social distancing in the terminal, even among family members, when passengers were made to sit shoulder-to-shoulder in flights with no vacant seats in between. That, airlines official said, was the new normal that flyers would have to get used to soon.
People stranded away from home for over two months were finally glad to fly back to their families. Airlines employees in the city were glad to see operations resume after two months of uncertainty and tension when several colleagues and friends had either lost their jobs or were sent on leave without pay. Officials of the Airports Authority of India were relieved that Kolkata was back on the aviation map, albeit three days after rest of India.
Caught in the middle of an emergency following a monstrous cyclone that devastated the city, the state government had called for postponement of flight operations till Thursday and had asked the civil aviation ministry to schedule fewer flights initially so that it had time to prepare for issues like quarantine of suspects.
The fears weren’t unfounded. A passenger in his mid-40s travelling with his relatives to the city from Delhi was detected with fever and taken to the quarantine centre in New Town. If he or his family members test Covid-19 positive, those seated alongside as well as in the row in front and back will be alerted so that they can report at the onset of any Covid-like symptom. They have also been advised home quarantine for 14 days.
“One of the passengers who arrived from Delhi by an AirAsia flight had high temperature. He was asked to wait in an isolation chamber along with two relatives. They were given PPE kits and taken to the quarantine facility in an ambulance escorted by a police vehicle. After they exited, the isolation chamber was disinfected,” an airport official said.
On the first day of flight resumption, 1,745 passengers departed and 1,214 passengers arrived in the 11 flights that operated. In additional to the five IndiGo, two Spicejet and one Air India, AirAsia and Vistara flight, AI subsidiary Alliance Air also operated a flight to Dibrugarh on Thursday.
While passengers were looking forward to the restart of flights, there was confusion aplenty with some passengers arriving at the airport to discover that the flight had already taken off and others being told that their flight had been cancelled. Initially, airlines had opened bookings in over 80 flights that were to operate daily but had to later reduce the number of flights to 11.
Incoming passengers also admitted that flying had turned from a pleasurable experience to one that was anxiety-prone and claustrophobic with masks, face shields and gloves to protect themselves from the unknown Covid carrier. Many flyers also questioned the stress on social distancing in the terminal, even among family members, when passengers were made to sit shoulder-to-shoulder in flights with no vacant seats in between. That, airlines official said, was the new normal that flyers would have to get used to soon.
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