Numbers continue to grow, 354 domestic flights operated till 5pm today: Aviation Minister

After two months of being grounded, India resumed its domestic flight services on Monday with 428 flights functioning on day one.

On the third day of the recommencement of domestic flight services in the fourth phase of lockdown in India, a total of 354 flights operated which carried 47,917 passengers till 5 pm on Wednesday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, adding that numbers continue to grow.

“Till 5pm on day 3 today, there have already been 354 departures & 288 arrivals with a total of 47,917 people at various airports. The numbers continue to grow,” Puri tweeted.

Earlier in the day, the Aviation Minister had revealed information for Tuesday’s flights stating, “Our skies and airports are busy again. On 26th May, the 2nd day of recommencement of domestic passenger flights in India, our airports handled 62,641 flyers on 445 departures & 447 arrivals. All airport functioning was smooth. Only 6 departures were rescheduled,” Puri tweeted.

After two months of inaction, India resumed its domestic flight services on Monday with 428 flights functioning on day one. However, first day of domestic flight operations was marred by a large number of cancellations at major airports including Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.

Domestic flights are operating pan-India, barring West Bengal which has been severely hit by cyclone Amphan. The state had opposed to the resumption of flights from Monday given the destruction the cyclone had caused. The Centre, on Sunday, then decided to begin domestic passengers flights in Bengal from Thursday.

Centre’s move to resume flights in the country was met with opposition by several states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Due to which, the number of daily flights was reduced in these states.

The Delhi-Patna route has witnessed the highest number of bookings for the travel period between May 25 and May 31, according to information sourced from online travel agencies.

Prior to the grounding of flights announced by the government with effect from March 25, around 2,700 domestic flights operated in the country on a normal day. According to the standard operating procedures issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, only a third of those flights can operate now.