Restrictions By States Led To 630 Flight Cancellations Today: Report

Domestic air travel resumed on Monday after two months even as a number of states were unenthusiastic about opening up their airports in view of rising COVID-19 cases, causing cancellations of around 630 flights.

According to aviation industry sources, around 630 domestic flights scheduled for Monday were cancelled due to the centre's Sunday night announcement that there would be no flights in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, and limited operations at major airports such as Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.

Consequently, many passengers reached the airports on Monday only to be told by the airline staff that their flights have been cancelled.

Many people took to social media to vent out their anger.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday evening, "From no domestic passenger flights yesterday to 532 flights and 39,231 passengers today, action has returned to Indian skies. With Andhra Pradesh set to resume operations from tomorrow & West Bengal from 28 May, these numbers are all set to increase further."

According to a source, on May 22, bookings had opened for around 1,100 domestic flights for Monday.

The airlines, which were allowed to operate one-third of their pre-lockdown domestic services, have been busy since Sunday night to further rework their flight schedules.

The first flight on Monday took off from Delhi for Pune at 4.45 am under strict regulations recommended by civil aviation authorities. The first flight from Mumbai was to Patna at 6.45 am.

States like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, which are home to some of the busiest airports in the country, were reluctant to allow domestic flight services from their airports, citing swelling COVID-19 cases there.

West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh governments did not relent to the requests by the Civil Aviation Ministry to allow flight services from Monday.

It was decided on Sunday that Kolkata and Bagdogra airports in cyclone-hit West Bengal will not operate any domestic flight between May 25 and 27, but will handle 20 flights daily from May 28.

Moreover, Vijayawada and Vizag airports in Andhra Pradesh will handle just 20 per cent of their pre-lockdown flights from May 26.

Mumbai airport, which is India's second busiest airport, will handle only 50 flights daily from Monday, the Centre said, adding Chennai airport will see only 25 arrivals per day.

There were no limits set on departures from Chennai airport.

Moreover, Hyderabad in Telangana will handle just 30 flights every day from Monday, the government said.

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Punjab, Assam and Andhra Pradesh, among others, have announced their own quarantine measures for passengers arriving at their airports. Some states have decided to put passengers in institutional quarantine while several others have talked about putting them in home quarantine.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday had questioned the need for quarantine if a passenger shows green status on the Aarogya Setu app. The green status signifies that a passenger is safe.

The Maharashtra government had requested the Centre on Sunday to keep air services in the state at a minimum possible level.

"It has been a long day of hard negotiations with various state govts to recommence civil aviation operations in the country," Puri tweeted on Sunday night, adding, "Except Andhra Pradesh which will start on 26/5 and West Bengal on 28/5, domestic flights will recommence across the country from tomorrow (Monday)."