Chaos at airports continue as flights resume

Around 630 flights were cancelled on Monday while on Tuesday 80 flights were cancelled at Delhi alone.

New Delhi: Chaos and confusion prevailed at the airports on the second consecutive day of domestic flight services resumption in India. Several flights were cancelled again, leaving passengers anguished due to ill-planning of the government.

Around 630 flights were cancelled on Monday while on Tuesday 80 flights were cancelled at Delhi alone. Worst was that passengers came to know about flight cancellations at the airports only. Several took to social media to vent out anger as reaching airports in the middle of the lockdown was not easy.

A guest worker said he had to sell his cattles in the village to buy an air ticket for a flight that got cancelled. After much uproar on social media, the airlines accommodated him in another flight. Airlines claimed that since major airports like Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad have put a cap on the number of fights they can handle, cancellations continued on Tuesday.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Mr Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted saying: “Smooth operations of domestic civil aviation. Our airports have handled 325 departures & 283 arrivals with 41,673 passengers till 5pm on 26 May 2020, the 2nd day after recommencement of domestic flights.” He added final report for the day will be prepared after details come in at midnight. By Monday late night total 832 flights had operated carrying 58,318 passengers.

Andhra Pradesh, that had allowed only one flight (to and fro) from Rajmundary on Monday carrying total 82 passengers, on Tuesday saw flight operations resume. However, according to officials, Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam airports will handle just eight flights each during the day. West Bengal will allow operations from Thursday.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has now also allowed private planes, chartered flights and helicopter services by non-scheduled and private operators to resume.

Meanwhile, a 50-year-old Air India employee, who was among the eleven people on board a Delhi-Ludhiana flight on Monday, has tested positive for COVID-19. However, samples of his co-passengers, are negative. Two more Air India crew members are learnt to have tested positive upon their return from a flight from Toronto.  While one is in hospital, the other is under home quarantine.

At Coimbatore, a passenger who travelled on Indigo from Chennai to Coimbatore on Monday evening also tested positive. He is currently quarantined at ESI state medical facility at Coimbatore. No one else was seated in his vicinity.  The operating crew has been home quarantined for 14 days.