IGI Airport sees less chaos as States come up with clear travel protocol

Nervous flyers wear not-so-comfortable PPE kits before entering the terminal

With individual States coming out with a clear protocol on domestic air travel, the scene at Delhi airport on Wednesday was a lot less chaotic compared to the first day when there were several last-minute cancellations.

Nervous about flying during a pandemic, several passengers purchased full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits being sold in kiosks at the terminal.

Priced at ₹840, the kit contains overalls, mask, gloves, sanitiser and a protection for the eyes. Several passengers were seen alighting from their cars, purchasing a kit and putting it on before joining the queue to enter the terminal.

Passengers, however, complained that in the summer heat, the PPE kit was not a comfortable thing to wear but it put their minds at ease during the journey.

Archana Rao who arrived from Raipur in a full PPE kit along with her daughter said that it was not very comfortable flying wearing it as it was dehydrating but hoped it had protected her in case she came in contact with the virus.

“I had to make up a game so that my daughter would not take it off. I told her that we had dressed up as superheroes and that we were fighting a bad virus,” Ms. Rao said.

‘Careless passengers’

She added that even though airlines were taking all precautions, there were a handful of passengers on her flight that were being careless and not listening to instructions.

For Pradyumna Das, who was taking a fight for the first time, the journey was bittersweet. “I have always wanted to fly but never thought my first time would be under such circumstances. I am nervous as I have never checked in before and I was unable to do a web-check in,” Mr. Das said. He was flying home to Bhubaneswar after the company he was working with in Ludhiana shutdown and the employees were told they would be called back when things got better.

Not allowed inside

Many passengers, outside the terminal, complained that they were being made to wait in the heat as they were not being allowed into the terminal until three hours before their flight. “We arrived from Rewari to catch out flight to Lucknow. Unsure of the various checks on the way, we reached early and had to spend five hours outside the terminal. It is 45° Celsius and there is not even a fan. With a mask on, it is very uncomfortable,” said Ankit Tiwari.

Another passenger, Karuna Pandey, about to proceed for check-in, looked at the line before entering the terminal and said that he was having second thoughts about flying, but was heading home as his mother was unwell. “There are social distancing marking on the floor but there is hardly anybody following it or enforcing it. If this is the situation outside, imagine what it may be like once inside the aircraft,” he said.