Passenger air services to NE resume

GUWAHATI: Commercial passenger air services to the Northeast resumed along with rest of the country on Monday, with LGBI Airport here being gateway to the region, handling eight flights (arrivals and departures), official reports stated.

However, barring Guwahati and Imphal airports, all flights to the other airports in Northeast have been cancelled till May 27.

According to Airports Authority of India, (North Eastern Region), 686 passengers were scheduled to arrive in the region on eight flights, with the first aircraft from New Delhi landing at LGBI airport 9am.

As many as seven aircraft carrying 547 passengers landed at the airport by 1 pm while the remaining 139 passengers were subsequently scheduled for arrival on one flight from New Delhi in the evening.

“All operations were smooth and normal. Mandatory medical screening of passengers was done by state health officials. Arrangements in wake of COVID19 were made in the airport and followed strictly by passengers and AAI staff,” an official report said.

Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took stock of the arrangements at LGBI Airport on Monday morning.

“Passengers from Guwahati will be taken to two screening centres while those from the rest of the districts would be taken to the district headquarters. Passengers in the exempted categories will be allowed to go for home quarantine while those in the non-exempted category will be sent to institutional quarantine,” Sarma told reporters at the airport.

“Regarding passengers belonging to the other Northeast states, the resident commissioners of the respective states may take a call in regard to taking then to the bhawans here or to the respective states,” he said.

The minister said that the state was gearing up for the greater inflow of passengers from May 28, when more flights resume operations.