Confusion in the air as India takes flight after two months
MASS CANCELLATIONS Half of approx 1,100 scheduled flights eventually cancelled after states unveil new rules
Two months after India grounded domestic flights to halt the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), passenger jets took to the air again on Monday, but only half of the scheduled operations could resume amid widespread confusion over operations and reluctance by some states to allow inbound travellers.
States agreed with the Centre on Sunday to allow a graded reopening of flight operations after putting in place local measures to quarantine and isolate passengers to avoid a spiralling of infections. Numbers of flights operating across airports have been capped, with the Centre allowing only a third of domestic operations amid a national lockdown triggered by the pandemic. On Monday, however, about half of the estimated 1,100 expected flights had to be cancelled as airlines reconciled with the varying public health rules of states and reworked their flight schedules.
Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), which handled 950 flights daily before it shut on March 25, operated 47 flights on Monday. A total of 4,852 passengers (3,752 departing passengers and 1,100 arriving passengers) were flown to and from the airport on Monday. However, there was confusion owing to last-minute changes in flight schedules.
Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said 532 flights carried 39,231 passengers on the first day of the resumption of operations.