Domestic flights resume

Poor patronage and chaos due to cancellations hit airports in Kerala

Poor patronage from domestic flyers and chaos due to flight cancellations were felt in four international airports of the State on Monday during the first day of the ‘calibrated reopening of air travel’ within the country after two months.

The domestic flights were from the list of the 2,288 approved by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the May 25 to June 30 period. For the flyers, the resumption of domestic flight operations have been a big relief.

Headache

Empty seats in the flights reportedly due to the COVID-19 threat and the last minute flight cancellations due to the changes in the flight schedules to Delhi, West Bengal, Tripura, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and Cyclone Amphan’s impact were a headache for the airline staff.

The usually full domestic flight from Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram, which was the first to land in the capital at 2.30 p.m., had just 66 passengers. The flight from Chennai had 93 passengers while the flight from Bengalaru had 162 passengers.

Airport Director C.V. Ravindran said only five passengers were in the flight from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram, two in the flight that came from Delhi via Madurai and there was no passenger in the flight that operated from Kozhikode. The patronage for the return flights was also poor. Three Indigo flights were cancelled.

Cochin international airport handled 1,050 passengers on Monday, which was also the 21st anniversary of entering the aviation map.

The first flight was an Air Asia flight from Bengaluru at 7.10 a.m.

Cancellations

CIAL authorities confirmed eight arrivals and nine departures while three departures and four arrivals were cancelled. One flight each from Mysuru, Bengaluru and Mumbai were cancelled.

In Calicut international airport, an Indigo flight operated in the Bengaluru-Kozhikode sector. The ATR72 aircraft arrived with 59 passengers and departed with 57 passengers in the evening.