CHENNAI: Passengers headed to Chennai from the US and Canada on Vande Bharat flights will have to be in quarantine centres for 14 days in Delhi before they can board connecting flights. Air India will be operating all their evacuation flights from these countries to the national capital.
A quarantine rule which has been announced on June 11 has now put international passengers who want to travel beyond Delhi in a fix. According to the Centre’s quarantine rule, people will have to go on institutional quarantine as international passengers cannot be allowed to be mixed with domestic passengers and they have to board connecting domestic flights only after completing the quarantine period.
This has raised a concern among passengers who are headed to Chennai via Delhi because many of them do not want to stay in the city and spend money for rooms for 14 days.
Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) has been receiving complaints from passengers. “Lack of connecting flights is forcing many to undergo 14 day-institutional quarantine in Delhi when, in fact, their home destination is different. It doesn’t seem logical. They should be treated as transit passengers,” said D Sudhakara Reddy, national president of APAI.
He also said that a hub-andspoke model is not being followed, so passengers from Toronto, Vancouver and Chicago will land in Delhi despite the fact that they are travelling onward to Bengaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad.
Chandramouli M, who was a former airline officer said, “Before March 24 the schedule was user-friendly. Passengers will assemble in Delhi and then they will leave by the 5pm flight to Chennai. In the current case people coming from the US and Canada will have to pay for two tickets. They have to pay for travel from the US to Delhi and then again from Delhi to Chennai. As the quarantine rule was informed now many have already booked their Delhi-Chennai tickets. This will be a loss.”
Chandramouli said, "In my view the decision is unrealistic due to the fact that had there been at least once a week flight to the destination, say Chennai, passengers would have opted for the same. Further asking passengers to undergo quarantine at an alien place is merely adding to the misery due to exorbitant cost in Delhi."
It will be much more difficult if these passengers have to undergo quarantine in Chennai too as institutional quarantine is compulsory in Tamil Nadu too, he added.
Air India can also take all these passengers as transit in Delhi so that they can come to Chennai and undergo quarantine.
The government has increased the number of Vande Bharat flight to bring stranded Indians in the US and Canda At least 150passengers will be there to travel to Chennai per flights.
A quarantine rule which has been announced on June 11 has now put international passengers who want to travel beyond Delhi in a fix. According to the Centre’s quarantine rule, people will have to go on institutional quarantine as international passengers cannot be allowed to be mixed with domestic passengers and they have to board connecting domestic flights only after completing the quarantine period.
This has raised a concern among passengers who are headed to Chennai via Delhi because many of them do not want to stay in the city and spend money for rooms for 14 days.
Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) has been receiving complaints from passengers. “Lack of connecting flights is forcing many to undergo 14 day-institutional quarantine in Delhi when, in fact, their home destination is different. It doesn’t seem logical. They should be treated as transit passengers,” said D Sudhakara Reddy, national president of APAI.
He also said that a hub-andspoke model is not being followed, so passengers from Toronto, Vancouver and Chicago will land in Delhi despite the fact that they are travelling onward to Bengaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad.
Chandramouli M, who was a former airline officer said, “Before March 24 the schedule was user-friendly. Passengers will assemble in Delhi and then they will leave by the 5pm flight to Chennai. In the current case people coming from the US and Canada will have to pay for two tickets. They have to pay for travel from the US to Delhi and then again from Delhi to Chennai. As the quarantine rule was informed now many have already booked their Delhi-Chennai tickets. This will be a loss.”
Chandramouli said, "In my view the decision is unrealistic due to the fact that had there been at least once a week flight to the destination, say Chennai, passengers would have opted for the same. Further asking passengers to undergo quarantine at an alien place is merely adding to the misery due to exorbitant cost in Delhi."
It will be much more difficult if these passengers have to undergo quarantine in Chennai too as institutional quarantine is compulsory in Tamil Nadu too, he added.
Air India can also take all these passengers as transit in Delhi so that they can come to Chennai and undergo quarantine.
The government has increased the number of Vande Bharat flight to bring stranded Indians in the US and Canda At least 150passengers will be there to travel to Chennai per flights.
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