After weeks of discussions, govt clears air travel

NEW DELHI: On May 11, Indian Railways announced it would run special trains to 15 destinations from Delhi, and back. By then, the union government had already started discussing the resumption of flight services, top government officials involved in the process said on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, the government announced the resumption of limited flight services, starting Monday, May 25.

As a first step, the officials said, the ministry of home affairs and health started discussions with the civil aviation ministry, the Airport Authority of India and airlines in the last week of April.

“But as complex negotiations involving private airlines took a long time, the standard operating procedure could not be finalized before the union government announced Lockdown 4.0 on May 17,” said one of the officials cited in the first instance.

Running trains for workers or even the trains to and from Delhi was relatively easier as only government agencies were involved, a second official said.

The airport authority of India was entrusted to come up with a plan on how social distancing and other health norms could be ensured in an airport.

The Prime Minister’s Office, a third official said, was clear that only select routes would be opened and that planes would not fly to capacity .

“...in this situation of pandemic, the top brass of the Centre would be reluctant to open new transport facilities without taking the states on board,” said the third official.

On Wednesday, aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted: “Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday. All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May.”