Air India to resume operation on Kolkata-Imphal-Aizawl route from Thursday

All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended since March 25 when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic. The flights resumed on Monday.

National carrier Air India will resume its operations from Mizoram from Thursday, though domestic passenger flights restarted services across the country after a gap two months on Monday, an official said. GoAir and IndiGo, two other airlines having services in Mizoram, were yet to announce their schedule for recommencement of flights from Aizawl, he said. All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended since March 25 when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic. The flights resumed on Monday.

“Air India will operate Airbus 319 on the Kolkata-Imphal-Aizawl sector thrice a week – Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday. The service will start from May 28,” Nagaland principal consultant for civil aviation, Wing Commander J
Lalhmingliana told PTI. The West Bengal government did not allow operation of domestic flights between May 25 and 27 from Kolkata airport after the city was lashed by cyclone Amphan last week, he said.

Lalhmingliana said only residents of Mizoram and those outsiders who obtained special permission from the state home department will be allowed to enter the state as the issuance of Inner Line Permit (ILP) on arrival at the Lengpui airport here has currently been suspended. According to the Standard Operating Procedure, any
stranded Mizoram resident intending to return by flight will have to obtain movement permit from the state government before they arrive at Lengpui airport, he said.

Private airlines GoAir and IndiGo were yet to inform the authorities their schedule for resuming flight services
from Aizawl, Lalhmingliana said. GoAir, which operates on the Kolkata-Guwahati-Aizawl sector, had earlier said it would restart operations from September. On March 1, IndiGo launched flights on Aizawl-Guwahati-Agartala route.

Meanwhile, the state government has decided to write to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation to arrange for
additional flights on May 29 and 30, under secretary in the state home department Zahmingthanga told PTI. He said the state home department has so far received applications from 106 stranded residents who intended to return by flight. The state government has deployed medical teams and installed thermal camera at the Lengpui airport.