Showing posts with label Airports Mar 2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airports Mar 2020. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

GMR Hyderabad airport handles Covid-19 evacuation flights

Hyderabad: While the world battles the pandemic and India is under a lockdown, GMR Hyderabad International Airport is handling Covid-19 relief and evacuation flights.

The airport on Tuesday handled a special relief flight operated by Air India to evacuate German nationals stranded in the country.

The special flight AI 3005, a Dreamliner (Boeing B787-8) aircraft, landed at Hyderabad airport today at 7.32 am from Chennai. In coordination with the German Consulate and the Telangana government, a group of 38 passengers arrived at the airport at around 6 am.

A select group of personnel from GHIAL Terminal Operations, Airside Operations and other critical operators were made available to ensure the safe departure of the stranded passengers.

Special screening and safety measures were in place, including thermal screening prior to terminal entry and mandatory social distancing enforced through special queuing arrangements at all passenger processing points.

The passengers from Hyderabad joined those who had boarded the aircraft in Chennai. The flight departed from Hyderabad to Mumbai at 9.22 am. From there, all the German nationals were to be flown to Frankfurt.

On March 28, the airport handled another special rescue flight of IndiGo to evacuate its crew stuck in Hyderabad. IndiGo flight 6E 9999 landed at the Hyderabad airport on March 28 with its eight-member crew, who disembarked here and departed to Chennai with five stranded IndiGo crew members.
31/03/20 Business Line

Medical equipment land at Calcutta airport

Calcutta: Ventilators from Switzerland, infrared thermometers from China and personal protection gear from Chennai — equipment for treating Covid-19 patients and those suspected to have contracted the virus — have started arriving at Calcutta airport since last week, officials said.

As the state prepares to fight a possible spurt in coronavirus cases, government and private hospitals are buying vital treatment and diagnostic equipment from other countries and states.

“Since it’s an emergency situation, we are getting most equipment by air,” a state government official said.

The consignments started arriving last Friday, officials at the airport’s cargo terminal said.

The state is in talks with export and import agents to procure a large number of Covid-19 test kits and ventilators, airport sources said. Quotations have also been sought for protective gear such as goggles, N-95 masks, disposable surgical gowns and masks, personal protective equipment (PPE) and gloves. Most of these have to be flown in from China, health department sources said.

The government is also planning to procure civil epidemic prevention equipment such as daily-wear masks and forehead thermometers.

A consignment of 5,000 infrared thermometers has arrived from China. Three ventilators ordered by the government of a northeastern state were flown in from Zurich on a special cargo aircraft last week, said airport officials.

A SpiceJet cargo aircraft brought 277 boxes containing PPE for doctors and healthcare workers. The consignment also contained gloves, caps and shoe covers for government hospitals across the state, an official said.
31/03/20  Sanjay Mandal/Telgraph

Mumbai airport operates with 500 staff, BEST helps in employee transport

With all international and domestic passenger flights suspended till April 14, there is no hustle and bustle at the airports of India. However, all are trying to keep the operations running with minimal staff as the 21-day lockdown has mandated social distancing.

Mumbai International Airport, which used to handle around 1,000 flights a day before the lockdown started, is currently operating with a staff of 500 personnel to handle evacuation flights and cargo aircraft.

BEST, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport, has been helping the airport employees in their transportation from their homes to the airport.

The airport, which is the largest gateway for pharmaceutical products, is currently handling vital cargo operations and emergency evacuation flights.

"The items include pharmaceutical goods, medical equipment, which are
approved by the regulatory bodies and customs," the GVK Group's airport said.

Various teams across the areas of engineering and maintenance, operations staff, and CISF are also working at the airport during the lockdown period.

"The airport maintenance staff continue to effectively sanitize and fumigate the entire terminal building including the vital areas where tactile interface, as in human hands come into play – like elevator buttons, escalators, etc. implementing measures to prevent any potential spread of the virus and assure well-being of the passengers, once operations resume," the airport added.
31/03/20 Anu Sharma/CNBC TV18

Monday, March 30, 2020

Deal to sell 49% in GMR Airports on track, says GMR Group

New Delhi: The GMR group today said that funding plan in its subsidiary – GMR Airports Ltd (GAL) – is on track despite the uncertain economic conditions, as its French partner has raised money through bonds to honour the payment plan.
In February 2020, GMR Group had signed an agreement with France’s Groupe ADP to divest 49% stake in GAL for an equity consideration of Rs 10,780 crore.
“Groupe ADP of France has successfully raised Euro 2.5 billion in bonds in two-parts. The two-part bonds having different maturity have been priced at effective interest rate of 2.125% and 2.75%, respectively. The bonds were over-subscribed by more than five times. This raising plan ensures that the payment plans remain intact,” said a company executive, who did not want to be identified.
The executive added that over-subscription of bonds in current economic scenario is also a testimony of faith international investors have in Groupe ADP, a global airport developer and operator.
As part of the deal, the group has already received the first tranche of Rs. 5,248 crore, which was utilised to deleverage the group and improve cash flow and profitability.
30/03/20 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

PM Modi salutes AAI employees for raising Rs 20 crore for COVID-19 relief fund

New Delhi: Employees of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) have raised Rs 20 crore as an initial contribution for the PM CARES Fund to fight the menace of coronavirus (COVID-19). Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday saluted the AAI employees for their professionalism.

"AAI employees raised Rs 20 crore as an initial contribution to the #PMCARES Funds to fight the menace of COVID1-9. Collectively, as responsible citizens of this country, we shall make all efforts to protect, empower and help effected communities to tide over this emergency," the AAI tweeted.

The airport authority also donated Rs 15 crore from its CSR funds to the PM Cares Fund to deal with the challenges arising out of the unprecedented coronavirus crisis.

"The COVID-19 India crisis is one of the toughest challenges we are facing. The AAI has decided to donate Rs 15 crore from its CSR Fund to the PM-CARES Fund to meet this challenge before the nation. At this moment, contributing to such a collective fund is the need of the hour #AAICares," it said in another tweet.
29/03/20 ANI/TimesNowNews.com

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Flight from Calcutta for stranded foreigners

Calcutta: The federal foreign office of Germany has arranged an Air India flight from Calcutta to evacuate its nationals stranded in eastern India because of the cessation of international flights in India to fight the spread the coronavirus.

Citizens of other European Union nations and the UK will be allowed on board as well.

The plane is expected to fly out from Dum Dum airport with more than 150 passengers on Tuesday morning.

“The embassy signed a contract with Air India on Saturday morning in Delhi. This repatriation programme is for short-term visitors who do not have back-up to stay on as well as Indians who hold permits of residency in Germany,” deputy consul general Jurgen Thomas Schrod told Metro.

The flight will stop at Delhi for refuelling before flying onwards to Frankfurt.

There will be about 100 Germans on board, along with citizens of Britain, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Finland. “Since this is a special flight, flyers will not get a boarding pass but will have to sign a form to pay a fare equivalent to normal economy class ticket rates.”

The flight has a capacity of 238 passengers but will carry only about 150 to ensure social distancing. “We still have a few seats available to fill up,” Schrod said.

The deputy consul general worked a 10-hour shift on Saturday, attending calls on three phones and answering emails, and was back at his table on Sunday at the consulate general with his colleagues. “We are a small consulate but this needs to be done. My colleagues in other European consulates in the city are also working hard to make this a success. We want to ease the burden on society and the government here in the midst of the pandemic.”
29/03/20 Sudeshna Banerjee/Telegraph

BIAL appeals RWA not to evict airport employees

Bengaluru: Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) the managers of Kempegowda International Airport has appealed to the Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) to stop evicting Airport workers as it needs to maintain a certain level of critical manpower to continue to handle cargo flights despite the shutdown of passenger operations The staff of KIA complained that the landlords are asking them to vacate their residences due to fears that they would spread the deadly Covid-19 disease among the community.
BIAL Managing Director and CEO Hari Marar said in a letter to the Bangalore Apartments Federation, General Secretary. Cargo operations continue to ensure that people across the country are able to receive their essential commodities like medicines, medical equipment and kits, and household parcels, among others. Besides this, relief aircraft and evacuation flights are also operating from the airport on a need basis”
 29/03/20 UNI

Amid Lockdown, Indigo Operates Flight From Delhi To Jodhpur For Iran-returned Indians

Mumbai: In-line with its commitment to provide support to the nation in the current scenario, IndiGo operated a relief flight from Delhi to Jodhpur on March 29, 2020. India is currently under a 21-day lockdown till April 14 to curb the spread of the coronavirus and consequently, all international and domestic commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this period.

However, as per an official statement,  the flight 6E-9121 operated by 2 captains and 4 cabin crew, carried 139 Indian passengers to Jodhpur to be shifted to the Army isolation centre. All passengers were certified as being corona negative prior to the flight. These passengers had arrived from Iran to Delhi on another flight as part of the evacuation process of Indian citizens from the Covid-2019 impacted countries.

Furthermore, the statement apprised about the precautionary measures while checking in and operating the flight, including overall staff, crew and aircraft maintenance engineers using personal protective equipment like masks and gloves, spraying disinfectant on all the bags prior to loading, meal boxes placed on seats prior to boarding and passenger disembarkation in lots of 20 and x-ray treatment of all check-in baggage.
Meanwhile, Indian airlines are currently in "grave and immediate danger" of insolvency as a result of disruption in air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic that can reduce about 5.75 lakh jobs in the Indian aviation industry, global airlines body IATA has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
29/03/20 Prachi Mankani/Republic World

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Head Constable Deployed at Mumbai Airport Tests Positive For COVID-19

New Delhi: A head constable who was deployed at Mumbai airport has been tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. In a statement, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) informed that the constable was under treatment in a Mumbai hospital for last few days.
Meanwhile, the number of positive cases in Maharashtra rose to 181 today. Presently, Mumbai has 73 positive cases, Pune 32, Sangli 24, Nagpur 11, Kalyan-Dombivali 7, Navi Mumbai 6, Thane 5, Yavatmal and Vasai-Virar 4 each, Ahmednagar 3, Satara and Raigad 2 each.
There is one patient each also in Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Ulhasnagar, Aurangabad, Palghar, Kolhapur, Gondia, besides one from Gujarat.
On the other hand, the death toll of COVID-19 patients in the state increased from five to six including a senior Mumbai medico who died while under treatment at a private hospital on Thursday night.
28/03/20 India.com

Trivandrum International Airport assigned standby function

Thiruvananthapuram: After screening over 2 lakh passengers who arrived in Kerala after Covid-19 outbreak entered a crucial stage, four airports in the state have ceased operations for passengers. However, Trivandrum international airport has been included in the list of standby airports in the country, along with four other airports, as it is close to the international air route. The airport will be used for refuelling and technical landing of aircraft that use the international route.

Chennai, Kolkata, Varanasi and Ahmedabad airports are the other standby airports. C V Ravindran, Director, Thiruvananthapuram international airport, told TNIE though the normal functioning of the airport has come to a halt, it would function as standby airport due to its proximity to international air route. The aircraft passing through the international air route can land here for refuelling purpose. Aircraft can also make technical landing. For this purpose some skeletal staff have been pressed into service.

Staff deployed in non-essential wings have been asked to work from home, but personnel attached to air traffic control, radar, fire services, operations, ground lighting and other key wings would work as usual as the air space is open for other flight operations. A few cargo aircraft have been operating from here chiefly to West Asia with strict restrictions, he said. The airport has also screened 1,023 aircraft from January 29, subjecting a total of 1.13 lakh passengers to thermal scanning. Of them 34 tested positive for Covid-19, while 210 were recommended home quarantine.
28/03/20 Dhinesh Kallungal/New Indian Express

Flying out of Hyderabad to pinch less after UDF slashed upto 77% from April 1

New Delhi: Flying out of Hyderabad will pinch passengers less, once the corona pandemic ends and normal travel resumes. The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has slashed user development fees (UDF) for departing domestic passengers from Rs 430 to Rs 281, reduced by 35%; and for departing international flyers from Rs 1700 to Rs 393 (without taxes), reduced by 77%.
“The revised UDF shall be applicable for tickets issued issued on or after April 1, 2020,” the AERA order on Hyderabad Airport’s aeronautical tariff for the second control period (April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2021) issued on Friday says.

At the current rate of Rs 430 for domestic departing passengers, airline websites show Rs 507 as with tax figure indicating a rate of almost 18% tax. An international UDF of Rs 1,700 with taxes, show airlines websites, comes out to Rs 2,006 (with 18% tax). So the UDF saving for flyers flying out of Hyderabad will be about Rs 170 and Rs 1,540 per domestic and international departing passenger, respectively.
28/03/20 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Friday, March 27, 2020

Indian airports hits a snag: Scarcity of slots

Kolkata: With suspension of all international and domestic passenger flight services in India, due to the corona virus outbreak, some Indian airports are reeling under shortage of aircraft parking space.

The Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport in Kolkata which has 58 parking bays, now has a total of 53 aircraft parked inside. The outbreak has already dealt a massive blow to the Indian aviation industry and now some airports in the country are reeling under space crunch for aircraft parking.

Due to suspension of both domestic and international flights in India, many airlines have their aircraft grounded at several airports in the country. It recently came to light that the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi is reportedly running out of space for aircraft parking and has hence made space in its remote bay area and hangars for the purpose.
The Kolkata airport though at present has space for parking but it is only a matter of time when the space runs out. A senior official in the Kolkata airport administration, today, told The Statesman, “At present, there are 53 parked aircraft in the Kolkata airport. The NSCBI airport has a total of 58 parking bays.”

Asked whether it already is witnessing paucity of space, the senior official pointed out, “For now, there is no space crunch since there is no flight operation at the airport. Only medical flights are operating, which are one or two at a time. We still have vacant space for parking aircraft.”
27/03/20 Soumyadip Mullick/Statesman

Meet unsung heroes of Delhi airport. Yes, airport is still functional

New Delhi: With the announcement of the suspension of all commercial passenger flights till April 14, it may appear that airports across the country are non-functional. But that is not the case.

Our airports are functional and they are being kept operational by a dedicated team of staff, working 24x7, for all cargo and evacuation flights that have been pressed into service during this hour of national and global crisis.

A constant sanitisation of the airports is being carried out, as flights continue to land and take-off. The latter is especially true of Delhi's international airport from where much of the rescue missions are being carried out. On Friday itself, a flight carrying 37 Bulgarian nationals left from Delhi for Sofia. Later in the evening, Japan Airlines evacuated more than 150 of its citizens from India via Delhi.
At Delhi airport, over 500 staff are working round-the-clock to ensure smooth operations. These include operations staff, trolley, cleaning, security, landside management at Terminal 1, 2, 3, inline baggage, airport rescue and firefighting along with airside operations.

Of these, over 100 of the operations and cleaning staff are staying inside the airport premises and, in a way, stand quarantined. They've been involved in the sanitisation of the terminal buildings including check-in areas and counters, baggage belts, immigration counters, custom area, trolleys and washrooms. Delhi International Airport Limited says, "This is the first time an extensive sanitisation work has been undertaken by the airport since it has become operational."
27/03/20 Poulomi Saha/India Today

Kashmir’s 1st victim ‘wasn’t screened’ at Srinagar airport

Srinagar: Evidence has emerged suggesting that Kashmir’s first coronavirus victim, 65-year-old religious preacher from Hyderpora, who died in a Srinagar hospital on Thursday, had developed symptoms way back in first week of March when he was travelling from Delhi to UP.

The evidence also suggests that he was not screened at the Srinagar airport on his arrival here on March 16 from Jammu. The government has already ordered a probe to look into the alleged mismanagement of the Covid victim by the hospital authorities in Srinagar as for as violation of the Covid protocol is concerned. As per the medical history recorded by the doctors at Covid clinic of SKIMS, which has been accessed by The Tribune, where he visited on March 21, the deceased had revealed his travel history to doctors.

As per the medical history recorded by the doctors at Covid clinic on his admit card, the Hyderpora man had developed Covid-like symptoms, fever, chest pain and dry cough on March 8 when he was travelling from Delhi to UP, where he visited Deoband. “He took medication, but was not relieved of the symptoms,” the doctors at the Covid Clinic-Emergency of SKIMS have noted down. The man died on March 26, exactly 20 days after his first symptoms appeared on March 8 when he came into contact with scores of people not only in Kashmir but in Delhi, Deoband and Jammu as well. In the advice note, SKIMS doctors wrote: “The patient was advised about home quarantine and also advised hygiene, (to) avoid social gatherings...”.
27/03/20 Ishfaq Tantry/Tribune

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Man held for misbehaving with health team at airport

Kochi: Nedumbassery police arrested a man for misbehaving with the medical team at the Kochi airport on Monday.Lami Arakkal, 54, who arrived from Chennai around 9.25pm, was arrested and later released on bail. “When the medical team at the airport asked him to wear a mask and fill out some forms as part of collecting details, Lami got angry. Refusing to cooperate, he verbally abused the doctor and tried to leave,” said an officer with Nedumbassery police station.

The medical team informed the police who reached the spot and arrested Lami. He has been booked under IPC Sections 294(b) and 506(1) on the instructions of District Police Chief (Rural) K Karthik. “His relatives were called to the station and apprised of the situation. He was later released on bail,” said the official.
25/03/20 New Indian Express

Kempegowda International Airport closed till Mar 31

Bengaluru: Bangaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) MD and CEO Hari Marar said on Wednesday that Kempegowda International Airport here would remain closed to passengers from 2359 hours on March 24 until 2359 hours IST on March 31. However, ''as per government order the airport will continue to facilitate the transport of essential commodities through its cargo operations,'' the MD further said.
BIAL has taken every preventive measure to contain the spread of virus, including regular screening of all staff-both before and after shifts, the provision of safety equipment like facemasks, gloves and access to hand sanitiser, he stated.
''We are working closely with the State Health Department and Airport Health Organisation to control the virus and have done everything in our capacity to safeguard our surroundings,'' Mr Marar added in a statement.
25/03/20 UNI

Cops help stranded passengers at airport

Ahmedabad: Ever since a partial lockdown has been imposed in Ahmedabad to curb further spread of COVID-19, the movement of all public transport vehicles including cabs and autorickshaws has been strictly restricted. The restricted movement of vehicles would have hampered movement of scores of travellers who landed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, however, Ahmedabad city police officials came to their rescue by issuing special permission to private cabs to ferry passengers.

With no cabs and private vehicles available at the airport, a number of passengers who did not have someone picking them up, were left hassled and confused on how to get home. “We saw several passengers walking hassled around the airport when we realized that they are unable to move due the restriction on movement of cabs as well as other modes of public transport. The ACP and DCP took a decision to issue special permission to cab drivers to ferry the passengers,” said K C Rathwa, police inspector, Airport Police Station.

“We contacted a few cab drivers who are regularly visiting the airport and they later informed other cabbies to help passengers move to their destinations. A special letter was issued to each cabbie by the police station, enabling one to move in the city only to drop the concerned passenger and return to the airport, based on which several passengers were sent home,” Rathwa further added.
25/03/20 Niyati Parikh/Times of India

Why quarantine works better than airport screening

On Monday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) published research from February 27 that attempts to “identify rational intervention strategies that might work towards control of the outbreak in India” of COVID-19. The research compares the effectiveness and feasibility of two approaches — attempting to contain an outbreak at the border, and quarantining symptomatic cases within the country.

The research makes a case for post-travel tracking rather than border containment. It uses mathematical modelling to show that spending resources on quarantining symptomatic cases can achieve a meaningful impact on the disease burden (assuming an “optimistic” scenario), rather than attempting to achieve infeasible levels of containment at the borders.

At the same time, it also accounts for the inevitability that an outburst of cases would make lab confirmations impractical. Therefore, the paper proposes “symptomatic surveillance” to be included with quarantine measures.
The government has focused on random sampling of patients with severe symptoms and quarantining positive cases. In the initial weeks of rising cases in India, asymptomatic travellers were not tested.
The researchers found that if India screened all symptomatic airport arrivals from China, the epidemic would occur in 45 to 47.7 days. If all asymptomatic arrivals from China were screened, India would need to identify at least 75% of asymptomatic infected arrivals in order to achieve an “appreciable” delay in the outbreak. If 90% were identified, the delay would be 20 days.
25/03/20 Karishma Mehrotra/Indian Express

Many flyers stranded at Delhi airport

New Delhi: On the last day of domestic flight operations out of Indira Gandhi International Airport before suspension of flights, many passengers succeeded in their last-ditch effort to leave the capital, though some weren’t so lucky when their flights were cancelled owing to crew or pilot unavailability. There were numerous complaints about unexpected cancellations of connecting flights that left flyers stranded at the airport.
From Tuesday midnight, a major chunk of the airport staff will cease working. The cargo terminal operations and special flights bringing Indians stranded abroad will continue, and two runways have also been kept operational for chartered planes and special flights. At 1.30am on Tuesday, 270 passengers landed at IGIA from Iran on a Mahan Airways flight and were sent into quarantine.

“The airport staff requirement will be toned down, and only those essential to operations will be retained for duty. Even their numbers will be reduced because reaching the airport during the lockdown will not be easy,” an airport official informed. “Along with cargo and special flights, we are also prepared to manage chartered planes because a large number of MPs and politicians are in Delhi.”

On Monday, the central government had announced the cessation of domestic flight for a week, starting from 11.59 pm on Tuesday, to combat the spread of Covid-19 cases. An airport source said several flights were cancelled in the last 24 hours. Some had very low occupancy. Among those cancelled was an IndiGo flight to Jammu. Yash Naruka, a Twitter user, posted: “My female friend is at Delhi airport terminal 1D, she's from Jammu. She works in jaipur, she was travelling to Jammu. now in Delhi all the connecting flights have been cancelled and she have no place to go, please look into it (sic)”.
25/03/20 Jasjeev Gandhiok/Times of India

All flights from Nashik to stop from today

Nashik: All flights from Ozar airport, located around 20-km away from Nashik city, have been stopped from Wednesday until March 31 following directive from director general of civil aviation (DGCA).
Passengers, who have already booked their flights in advance during this period, are to be given free option to change their travelling dates. Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, operates flights from Nashik to Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune, while private airline TruJet operates from Nashik to Ahmedabad.

“There will be no domestic flight between March 25 and 31 due to the outbreak of the Covid-19. The DGCA has already issued a circular in this regard. There will be no domestic flights from Wednesday,” sources from Alliance Air said.


TruJet sources also reiterated the same. “We will be giving free flights on any other days to those who have already booked flights in advance during this period,” sources from the airlines said.

25/03/20 Tushar Pawar/Times of India

Flyers throng airport just before domestic flights are grounded

Nagpur: From urbane frequent flyers to rustic workers, everyone reached Nagpur airport on Tuesday to reach their homes before even the last flight was grounded. Still low by normal standards, yet the number of passengers reaching Nagpur went up significantly compared to last one week. TOI inquired with travellers who said flights were nearly full as this was the last chance to reach their destinations.
The last flight of Indigo Airlines scheduled to reach Nagpur at 8pm and supposed to take off for Bengaluru in half an hour reached by 10:10pm. It quickly turned around and took off for Bengaluru by 10.35pm. The turn around could happen fast as there were only 59 passengers and there was no rush at the airport. It takes an hour and thirty five minutes to reach Bengaluru. Four aircraft that could not fly further due to the timings will remain parked at Nagpur, said a source.

The counter of a private airlines was thronged with flyers buying tickets just before they boarded, a scene resembling railway ticket window. As against 34 flights normally scheduled on Monday, the Nagpur airport had only 20 flights operating. The rest were cancelled.

TOI reached the airport in the noon and could find passengers coming from Mumbai and Ahmedabad as well as those leaving for Delhi and Chennai.

A group of young boys engaged as labourers and other work at mobile tower sites waited for their contractor, standing near the departure terminal. The contractor quickly bought tickets for Delhi from the counter. They had to reach their villages close to the national capital.

Soon a group of Tamil speaking workers and site engineers alighted from an SUV. Engaged by a sugar factory here, they were rushing to catch the flight to Chennai. They were followed by Kartik and Singanayakan who move door-to-door selling utensils, even they had to reach Chennai due to an emergency.

Despite the rush, inquiry at the airlines’ counters showed that there was no spike in ticket rates. Many travellers who bought last minute tickets paid Rs3600 to 4,000 which is the normal fare, they said.
25/03/20 Shishir Arya/Times of India

Rush of flyers at Patna airport

Patna: Heavy rush of passengers was witnessed at Patna airport on Tuesday as it was the last day for domestic flight operations. People from across the country landed here to return to their homes.
Altogether 23 flights were cancelled on Tuesday due to operational reasons and airport lockdown in other states. IndiGo and GoAir cancelled seven flights each mostly on routes connecting Patna with Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, while five flights of Air India and four of SpiceJet were suspended.


A special flight was operated by SpiceJet between Kolkata-Patna-Kolkata (SG-911) on Tuesday for students from Bihar, who were stuck in West Bengal. “The flight arrived at Patna airport at 7pm with 100 passengers,” an executive of the airline said.

Meanwhile, four airport express special buses operated from the city airport on Tuesday for the convenience of passengers. Transport secretary Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said arrangements were made to send those people home who reached the city from Kerala and other places on Tuesday.
25/03/20 Times of India

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Ground Handlers at Airports Brace for Tough Times

New Delhi: The one-week ban on entry of foreign scheduled aircraft into India from Sunday will hurt the accredited ground handling agencies and could lead to a situation where their employees either take a pay cut or work without pay.
“From a peak of 950 weekly international departures, it (the number) came down by about 60 per cent last week and will hit zero on Sunday,” a company spokesperson for Celebi Aviation Holding Inc told BusinessLine. He added that with a high fixed-cost base and no revenues coming in, the industry will have to take serious measures to remain viable. Ground handling companies do a variety of jobs, including cleaning the aircraft, toilets and packing meals, all within the short turnaround time.
“We may have to look at various options, such as a pay cut or work without pay, for some time,” he said. Celebi does ground handling, mostly for foreign flights, at seven airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi and Kannur. Pointing out that the situation was “very very grim” Prem Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Bhadra International India (Pvt) Ltd, said the government can declare a force majeure situation and help the industry by deferring statutory payments. Ground handlers have to pay for rentals and a royalty on the payments they receive.

Almost 99 per cent of the ground-handling business for Bhadra comes from international airlines at Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Coimbatore. It employs about 4,000 people and handles about 1,600 flights a month, while Celebi has about 8,300 people.
24/03/20 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

Karnataka releases flight details of 3 COVID-19 patients who landed in Mangaluru

The Dakshina Kannada district administration confirmed that four people from Kerala who were isolated when they landed at the Mangaluru International Airport had tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.

Three of the four patients arrived at the Mangaluru International Airport from Dubai on March 19 and March 20. They were isolated at the Wenlock District Hospital after they were screened at the airport. One other patient arrived at the Kozhikode International Airport from Saudi Arabia on March 9 and was admitted at a private hospital in Mangaluru on March 20.

The Dakshina Kannada district administration shared the details of the flights taken by the three patients who travelled from Dubai to Mangaluru. One of the patients, a man aged 47, arrived in the Air India Express (IX 814) flight at 5:00 am on March 19 while two other men, aged 32 and 23, arrived in Mangaluru in the Spicejet (SG-60) flight at 5:30 pm on March 20. The other patient is a 70-year-old woman who travelled from Saudi Arabia to Kozhikode by flight.
24/03/20 Prajwal Bhat/News Minute

No-Fly Zone: Planes Parked At Delhi Airport Ahead Of Midnight Corona Ban

New Delhi: All domestic flights will stop from midnight on Tuesday as India fights the spread of coronavirus.
Ahead of the flight ban, photos shared on Twitter showed planes parked on a runway at the Delhi airport.

International flights had already been banned last week to reduce transmission from foreign countries as coronavirus cases escalated in the country.

Yesterday, the government decided to cancel all flights, a demand by Chief Ministers like Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar.

All trains, metros and inter-state buses have also been stopped and almost all of India has come under total lockdown.
24/03/20 NDTV

Delhi Airport Has Already Run Out Of Space To Park Planes

As airlines across India ground their planes in response to the government instructed lockdown, Delhi Airport has a problem. Usually the busiest airport in India, airlines are used to fighting over landing slots and gate space. But now they’re fighting over something new – places to park their planes.
Delhi Airport is becoming more congested by the minute, but for once it’s not due to high levels of traffic. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 around the world, airlines in India have been cutting back services in response to the plummeting demand for international travel.
Almost two weeks ago, India stopped issuing visas for arrivals from other nations. Now, with India clamping down on domestic flights too, Indian airlines have really seen the bottom drop out of their market. As a consequence of this, many are looking for places to temporarily store their aircraft, and Delhi Airport is prime real estate.
According to NDTV, Delhi is getting close to being full for plane parking. Remote bays and hangars are being stacked full of planes, and the airport is running out of space. A spokesperson told NDTV,Delhi reportedly has space to park around 200 aircraft. But with just under 700 aircraft in the national fleet, across its 11 airlines, that space has been quickly swallowed up thanks to the early reduction in capacity. Now, with India grounding domestic flights too, airlines will have to find an alternative location for parking their planes.
24/03/20 Joanna Bailey/Simple Flying

Mizoram’s lone Lengpui Airport shut down amid coronavirus scare

Aizawl: Following the Centre’s decision to cease operation of domestic flights barring cargo-carrying flights from Tuesday midnight, the Mizoram government on Monday closed the lone Lengpui Airport until further orders, an official said.

The official said that the decision was made by the high-level meeting as a precautionary measure to contain and prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.

He said that Lengpui Airport will be closed from 11:30 pm on Monday to prevent movement of passengers. Mizoram has only one airport located at Lengpui near Aizawl.

Three airlines -- Air India, IndiGo and GoAir -- are currently operating to the state.

Earlier, on Sunday GoAir has suspended operation in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. The Centre on Monday decided that all domestic commercial flights will cease to operate from Tuesday midnight.
24/03/20 EastMojo

Domestic passenger at Kochi airport arrested after he refused to undergo Covid-19 screening

A 54-year-old native of Ernakulam district in Kerala was arrested Tuesday by the Nedumbassery Police after he allegedly refused to undergo the screening of the health department for Covid-19 at the Cochin International Airport.

A case was filed under sections 294(B), 506(1) against Lami Arackal for refusing to comply with the protocol set by the Kerala health department at the airport after he arrived by a SpiceJet flight from Chennai. An officer said the man argued with the health department staff and attempted to leave the premises without undergoing the screening. He reportedly claimed that he underwent no such screening at the Chennai airport either.

After his arrest was recorded, he was released on bail.
24/03/20 Indian Express/Yahoo!

Monday, March 23, 2020

Kolkata airport to remain operational

Kolkata: Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport in Kolkata is to remain functional despite a city lockdown directive issued by the state government. International passenger flights have stopped landing at the Kolkata airport from today, following a Central government travel advisory, while passengers from two international flights that reached Kolkata today morning, were shifted to Rajarhat quarantine centre.

In a bid to prevent community transmission of coronavirus, the state government today announced a city lockdown that will prevail from tomorrow 5 p.m. till 27 March 12 a.m. It has been termed as “Complete Safety Restrictions”. The government order has called for a shutdown for all public transport services in the city and of all shops, commercial establishments, offices and workshops etc.

However, a spokesperson of Kolkata airport confirmed that the airport is operational and opened on 24*7 basis. As per the latest travel advisory, only international flights remain suspended from today. Domestic flights will continue to operate. It was also learnt that the airport authorities have requested all passengers to check the flight details from the airlines concerned, beforehand, for any changes.
23/03/20 Statesman

Over 300 Indian students stranded at Kazakhstan airport, seek ‘just one flight home’

Over 300 Indian medical students are stranded in Kazakhstan’s Almaty Airport after India banned international arrivals from March 22 to March 31. The students haven’t been able to leave the airport for more than three days now as Almaty is under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Almaty is Kazakhstan’s biggest city and its airport accounts for half of the country’s air traffic.

Students said the discrimination by the locals are adding to their woes. People are denying them accommodation, they claimed, adding shopkeepers too are refusing groceries, sanitisers and masks to them.

Deepak Dhaka, a student from Rajasthan, said, “When Almaty was locked down, we were afraid it could be extended to the entire Kazakhstan. We left our university, which is over 15 hours train journey away, for the airport. But after reaching the airport, we were apprised about India’s travel ban.”
Students are stuck at the airport without proper food, sleep and sanitation. “We failed to find any accommodation near the airport as people said foreigners will bring the virus in their property,” Deepak added.

Even if some of them have managed to get accommodation, they are being subjected to discrimination by shopkeepers. Sonypriya Phanjoubam, a student from Manipur, said “Our friends gave us their apartment here before they left for India on March 21. But we have limited stock of food. Shopkeepers have supplies but they don’t want to sell to foreigners.”
23/03/20 Naman Shah/Indian Express

Girl at Bhopal airport showing Covid-19 symptoms quarantined, 6 other passengers isolated

Bhopal: A 19-year-old girl, who landed in Bhopal on Sunday, has been quarantined after she showed symptoms of novel coronavirus or Covid-19. Six other passengers who were in proximity to her have been isolated

The Delhi-Bhopal-Pune Air India flight, on which the suspected patient travelled, was sanitized before resuming its onward journey to Pune.

Sources said that the girl had high body temperature, was coughing and showing signs of breathlessness while being screened at the Raja Bhoj Airport on Sunday morning. The girl arrived at the Bhopal airport at 10.15 am.

All passengers were deplaned and the aircraft was sanitized before it flew ahead to Pune.

Meanwhile, out of a total of 53 samples sent for Covid-19 test in Madhya Pradesh, 37 reports have been come out to be negative.

Four cases in Jabalpur were found to be positive while reports of the remaining 12 are awaited.
22/03/20 Rahul Noronha/India Today

Delhi airport grapples with screening as thousands head home

New Delhi: Staff at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in Delhi is scrambling to ensure everyone landing there is screened for novel coronavirus and quarantined if needed even as thousands continue to return home amid the pandemic.

Passengers are flying into India mostly from the US, Australia, and the UK among other countries.

Sources said that since the screening process is time-consuming, more than thousands of passengers were stuck at the Delhi airport on Saturday, resulting in mayhem and chaos.

At the airport's Terminal 3 (T3), passengers had to wait for over six-eight hours to get themselves screened for novel coronavirus on Saturday and Sunday.

However, with 90 screening counters, the situation took a turn for the better by Sunday afternoon with a backlog of 500 passengers.

Some passengers seemed to be disgruntled over the entire screening process while many others appreciated the airport authorities for their tireless efforts.
22/03/20 Munish Pandey/India Today

6 Indians stuck at Dubai airport for 4 days

Dubai: Six Indian nationals were stranded at the Dubai aiport for the past four days after they werent allowed to board their connecting flight to their home country over coronavirus fears, it was reported.

The men flew into Dubai from various European countries on March 18. They were supposed to take an Emirates flight to New Delhi later that evening, reports Gulf news.

However, they couldn''t get onto the plane as the same day India imposed a ban on all passengers arriving from Europe.

Since then, the men have been stranded at Terminal 3 of the Dubai Airport.

"We don''t know what to do. We have been sleeping on airport benches for three nights now. I don''t know how long this stalemate will continue. Initially there were seven of us but one of the passengers flew back to France on Sunday as he was tired of waiting," said Deepak Gupta from Delhi who flew in from Bupadest on March 18.

Another passenger, Ajmer Singh from Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, said he''s on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
23/03/20 Outlook

All Domestic Flights Banned from Today Midnight Till March 31 to Control COVID-19 Spread

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced that no domestic commercial airlines shall fly with effect from the midnight that is 11:59 pm on March 24 till the midnight of March 31. Airlines have to plan operations so as to land at their destination before the given time on the given date. The restrictions, however, shall not apply to cargo-carrying flights.
Ahead of this, several airlines in India had temporarily suspended their international operations in light of the pandemic. In order to effectively tackle the situation, several countries have sealed their borders and implemented travel restrictions.
Several airlines have also approached the government seeking relief packages to minimise the blow. Sources close to the matter suggest that the relief package in question includes a waiver of landing and parking charges and payment to oil marketing companies, a limited period concession of the standing rule of slot allocation, which mandates that firms must operate at least 80 per cent of their allocated slots. As airlines suffer from lesser flights, a recent study by global aviation consultancy service provider CAPA has stated that most of the airlines around the world will face bankruptcy if the government does not intervene.
23/04/20 Zeba warsi/News18.com

No parking space for aircraft; airport loads fall to lowest level as coronavirus causes demand slump

As airlines ground flights in the wake of coronavirus, carriers are running out of parking space. At national capital Delhi’s IGI Airport, several operators have been parking at Runway 27 of the aerodrome as enough parking bays aren’t available, The Indian Express reported. Airlines have been minimising operations as demand has slumped due to the spread of coronavirus. India’s largest domestic carrier IndiGo has said that it would reduce operations of its scheduled flights by 40% for Sunday. IndiGo runs around 1,400 flights daily on domestic sectors. On the other hand, GoAir is cancelling almost all of its 330 flights on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the passenger loads have also taken a hit with over 1,000 flights getting cancelled throughout the country on Sunday. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked for a Janta Curfew on Sunday, there was a weak demand at airport loads which fell to their worst low in the past several years. At Delhi airport alone, 255 departures were cancelled, according to data from flight-tracking portal Flightradar24, the newspaper reported. In Mumbai, 233 departures, or 53% of the scheduled flights, were cancelled on Sunday.
23/03/20 Financial Express

3 chartered flights leave Goa with stranded tourists

Vasco: Three chartered flights that had come down to Goa late on Saturday night took away substantial number of foreign tourists who were stranded in Goa for the last several days on Sunday.

Sources at the Dabolim airport informed that the foreign tourists who were stranded in Goa were from Russia and UK.
The Dabolim airport saw few flights operating on Sunday. There were hardly few passengers who travelled to Goa on Sunday.

GoAir flights have totally suspended its operation in Goa on Sunday. Other airlines operated very marginal flights to Goa on Sunday.

Yellow black taxis cabs went off the road, but about four to five taxis were stationed next to the integrated building of Dabolim airport towards west-end side. Other tourist taxis preferred to stay off the roads.
23/03/20 Navhind Times

59 arrivals & 47 departures at Goa airport cancelled

Panaji: Goa's lone international airport at Dabolim, usually bustling with arrivals and departures, was deserted on Sunday as most airlines cancelled scheduled operations in response to the curfew announced by the Centre.
Goa International Airport's 2,390m-long runway, used to handling over 100 flights per day, most of them in the afternoon, handled just over 35 movements as 59 arrivals and 47 departures were cancelled, sources said.

"Only 18 flights departed today against an average of 77 per day," airport director Gagan Malik said. He added that the Airports Authority of India's operations and the housekeeping staff on duty were at full strength to assist airlines and passengers.

Budget airline GoAir cancelled all its flights in response to the Janta curfew, while other airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara and Air India curtailed their operations.
23/03/20 Newton Sequeira/Times of India

Several Flights Cancelled Due to COVID-19 Scare

Guwahati: As the fear of coronavirus spread grips tighter, a total of 13 flights were cancelled to and from the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport on March 23.
Amongst the flights cancelled are flights from GoAir, SpiceJet, Vistara, Indigo, and DrukAir.
23/03/20 Guwahati Plus

15 flights cancelled amid Covid scare

Mohali: Four airline operators have cancelled their flights from the Chandigarh international airport in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak.
Vistara has cancelled its four flights till March 27. These include flights to Delhi (667/668), Mumbai (653/654), Delhi (637/638) and Mumbai (651/652). Air Asia has cancelled its Delhi (332) flight for March 23. IndiGo Airlines has cancelled its four flights for March 23 - Delhi (6E842), Mumbai (6E 264), Goa (6E677) and Bengaluru (6E491).
23/03/20 Tribune

People in Jammu remain indoors, 7 flights cancelled at Jammu airport

On the appeal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a 'Janata curfew', people across Jammu region on Sunday stayed back at their homes to check the spread of coronavirus that has so far infected four persons in the Union territory.
Jammu and other parts of the region, which are under virtual lockdown for the past couple of days, witnessed unprecedented response to the 'Janata curfew' with residents preferring not to venture outside their homes to lend their support to the government's efforts to fight the pandemic.
Police has blocked many roads by barbed wires and deployed its personnel in the main towns and vital thoroughfares across Jammu region as the administration led by Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu made repeated appeals to the people to ensure the success of the 'Janata curfew'.
Except those involved in delivery of essential services, nobody came out of their homes even in remote and far-off places understanding the threat due to coronavirus, an official said quoting reports from various district headquarters.
The people need to pay heed to the advisories issued by the administration from time to time for their safety. We will overcome this challenge when we stand united in the fight against this novel and deadly virus, he said.
In its front page, the State Times group of publications announced closure of its offices in response to the call for 'Janata curfew' by the Prime Minister.
The decision to close the offices is aimed at promoting and encouraging the people to stay indoors with the avowed objective of maintaining social distancing, a keyword, among other measures to combat coronavirus", a spokesperson for the publication said adding that there would be no issue of the paper on Monday.
23/03/20 Rising Kashmir

Airport shops may not take off after flight ban

Mumbai: The Coronavirus pandemic may wipe off a large chunk of the $1.4 billion airport retail business in India as sales at retailers and duty free shop owners fall to nearly zero amid widespread flight and ticket cancellations.
Top executives at the retailers said they are looking at stark empty spaces which used to be thronged by excited customers shopping for premium liquor perfumes and fashion accessories two months ago. The signs of revival are bleak. The next one-week, wherein all international flights remain suspended, may bring many of them, especially duty free retailers, to the point of no revival.
Airport retail is currently a Rs 10,640 crore market, according to industry statistics. Of that, duty free retail market accounts for close to Rs 4,000 crore. The industry currently employs close to 2,000 people.
“The negative sentiment also has a lot to do with it,” PK Thimayya, CEO at duty free operator Flemingo Travel Retail told ET.
“Duty free shopping is an integral part of the whole international travel experience. Now people are in a hurry to leave the airport as soon as they can, distancing themselves from crowds and relieved to be deemed fit to go after being screened at immigration counters,” he added.
23/03/20 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

Delhi HC Suspends Breath Analyser Test Through Tube Process for Air Traffic Controllers Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the authorities concerned to suspend till March 27 breath analyser tests (BAT) through tube process for air traffic controllers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The high court directed the authorities to hold an urgent meeting on Tuesday to explore alternative methods for the test.

Justice Prathiba M Singh directed the Directorate General of Medical Services to hold an urgent meeting with the DGCA, the Air Traffic Controllers' Guild (India), doctors and the Airport Authority of India to explore alternatives of BAT.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on March 27. The court was hearing a plea by the Air Traffic Controllers' Guild (India) seeking direction to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to temporarily suspend the BAT through the current tube process to prevent further spread of the virus.
23/03/20 PTI/News18.com

Cial ground handlers face crisis

Kochi: With the aviation industry going through one of its worst dips due to travel restrictions and decrease in passenger flow in the wake of Covid-19, the ground handling agencies based at Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) too are bearing the brunt. The employees working in the sector are facing the threat of unemployment as Cial has suspended international services. Many employees are being asked to go on leave. Also, sources said that cost-cutting measures like loss of pay, lay-off, etc. may be initiated if the situation persists.
At present Cial has two major players in the ground handling sector – Celebi Aviation Holding and AIATSL, the fully-owned subsidiary of Air India that is into ground-handling services that include baggage, cargo handling and all other services. More than 1,000 staff are working in both the international and domestic sectors as ground handling staffs.

“Airlines’ revenue had cut down drastically over the past 15-20 days and no flights have been conducting services with full passenger capacity. The chance of revival anytime soon is dismal as more countries are strengthening travel restrictions. No termination has been started but if the situation continues, agencies will have to start severe cost-cutting measures,” said a source.
23/03/20 Times of India

Lockdown: Many flights at RGIA cancelled

Hyderabad: Many flights from Hyderabad to various destinations were cancelled on Sunday. All the flight services (departures and arrivals) of GoAir and TruJet were cancelled. Some Indigo, SpiceJet and Air India flights to destinations such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kochi, Goa, Kolkata among others were also cancelled, leaving passengers stranded in the city. Due to the lockdown declared by the state government, many could not even take alternate modes of transport.

Among them were students of University of Hyderabad who were asked to vacate hostels and return home by March 23. “@HardeepSPuri I am a student of Hyderabad Central University. Please don’t cancel flights to Bihar atleast for tomorrow (March 23). Me along with few friends are stranded here with no other means to go back home since university has been lockdown and we are advised to vacate hostel,” tweeted Simpoo Kumar.
23/03/20 Times of India

Flight operations down from 950 to about 600 in city, only 2,000 people run operations

Mumbai: A skeletal staff of just over 2,000 ran the city airport on Sunday, as the 14-hour janta curfew whittled down flight operations to about 600 arrivals and departures. The number is expected to dip further as the Indian government’s decision to suspend international flight operations for a week will come into effect at midnight on Sunday.
“About 100 international flights that are currently being operated will go off the radar from Monday. But if the curfew lifts, the number of domestic flights might go up a bit. On an average, Mumbai airport used to handle about 950 arrivals and departures a day and now it is down to 550 to 600 flights,” said a senior Mumbai air traffic controller.

A source at the airport said that a staff strength of 45,000 operates at the airport on a normal day. “This number includes those from duty free shops at terminal 2. The number of staff working in the terminal buildings has been going down steadily as airlines have been cancelling flights and passenger loads have been low. On Sunday, due to the curfew, the manpower was further been brought down and the airport was run by a mere 2000-odd airport/airline staffers. A number of them stayed back at the airport at night as we figured they might face problems commuting to the airport when the curfew is on."

Only a couple of food and beverage stalls are currently operational in terminal 2, largely for transit passengers.

While GoAir suspended its domestic operations for the day on account of the curfew (it suspended its international operations entirely last week), other carriers like Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet have been operating a curtailed flight schedule. The last international arrival is expected before Sunday midnight and the last departure before the week-long closedown is currently scheduled to be operated around 4am on Monday by Ethiopian Airlines to Addis Ababa.
23/03/20 Times of India 

Delhi airport turns one runway into parking bay as airlines ground planes

Mumbai: One of the three runways at Delhi airport is being used as parking space for planes for last two days as airlines are grounding planes and cancelling flights owing to low demand and travel bans.

Delhi is the busiest airport in the country and its three runways handle over 1,300 flights daily.
However the number of flights has come down to 800-900 due to cancellations and suspension of operations. Typically 120-130 planes are parked overnight at Delhi and these operate through the day.
"Till now there was no issue like shortage of parking bays. But as airlines have cancelled flights the aircraft continued to occupy the bays and hence one of the runway was made available for parking," said an airport official.
23/03/20 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

Delhi airport to remain operational for domestic flights: Government

New Delhi: The Centre on Sunday said that the Delhi government-announced lockdown of the capital will not impact operations at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. “Domestic flights to and from IGIA shall continue to operate and the airport shall remain functional,” an aviation ministry official said.

Scheduled international flights are not allowed to operate from any Indian airport till next Sunday (March 29). The aviation ministry’s clarification came after the Delhi government said the lockdown will mean no domestic flights from IGIA.

India has barred schedule commercial international flights for a week from Sunday (March 22), in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus. Domestic flights have also dropped significantly due to the drastic reduction in demand for travel. IndiGo, which has almost 50% domestic market share, will reduce its domestic capacity by 25% till things improve.

All airlines are now increasingly grounding their planes. Airlines have in fact sought lower parking charges for this very reason till September-October.

Meanwhile, KLM said on Sunday that “after receiving clearance from Indian authorities, (it) has arranged an additional flight, KL869 on Sunday from Amsterdam to Delhi. This flight is en-route Delhi with Indian passengers who were scheduled to arrive (earlier). KLM is committed to do everything it can to repatriate as many travellers as possible while ensuring to abide and respect government regulations.”


This flight was bringing 120 transit Indians from US and Canada to Delhi via Amsterdam on Friday night and was asked to return as the government has restricted flying in people from corona hotspots like UK and Europe. Later, this flight was allowed to bring the stranded passengers home.
22/03/20 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Kejriwal shuts Delhi Airport as part of lockdown; Centre overrules order

Confusion emanated over Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announcing the city’s airport would be shut from Monday till March 31. The central government later overruled him, clarifying that flight operations would continue.
Union government officials and executives of airports and airlines said they were caught off-guard by the CM’s announcement, of which there had been no prior intimation.
Kejriwal had at a 6 pm press meet on Sunday announced the city government was imposing a ‘lockdown’ of the Union Territory and barring all to and fro movement across its borders. With Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal present, he said all domestic flights into the city had also been banned till March 31.

However, within 30 minutes, the civil aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation announced flights would continue as before. “This is hara-kiri (the popular term for Japanese ritual suicide). It’s impossible to cancel flights, inform passengers and bring back aircraft at six hours notice. There should be more coordination in times of crisis between different wings of the government,” said an airline executive.

Other states have issued orders of lockdown, banning bus and other public transport, but kept airports and railway stations out of the purview. For instance, the West Bengal government’s order of lockdown from Monday does this.

IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara, and Air India are based out of Delhi airport. “If Delhi operations are shut, we will have to close operations,” said an executive at one.
According to a government estimate, airlines will anyway have to ground 68 per cent of their fleet in the next two months as demand falters. To save the sector from bankruptcy, the Centre is planning a relief package — tax holiday on jet fuel, waiver on landing and parking charges, loans at 1 per cent annual interest and more.
23/03/20 Arindam Majumder/Business Standard

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Most flights cancelled from city due to fall in passenger traffic

Surat: Airlines operating from Surat airport have started cancelling flights due to sharp drop in number of passengers amid virus scare.
Air India announced cancellation of its evening flight between Delhi and Surat for a week from March 22 to 27. The AI has also cancelled its morning flight every Wednesday and Saturday and evening flight every Saturday during the summer schedule.
SpiceJet had cancelled its flights from Surat to Goa, Jaisalmer, Jaipur and Udaipur on Friday. Majority of flights operating from Surat remained cancelled on Saturday.
Sources said passenger footfall at the airport has gone down drastically as the airport is also facing huge drop in passenger traffic.
22/03/20 Times of India

NAC halts flights to New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore

Kathmandu: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has postponed its regular flights to and from India’s New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore cities starting from March 22.

The national flight carrier said that a decision to that end was taken after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India released information, regarding regular flights having been halted to those destinations till March 29 in response to COVID-19.

Passengers who have tickets for the canceled flights are eligible for a full refund with no extra charge, NAC said in a statement.
22/03/20 KHabarhub

Chaos ensues at Delhi airport as India bans incoming international flights from Sunday

New Delhi: On Saturday, Delhi's international airport witnessed chaotic scenes as large crowds of passengers who'd arrived on international flights were subjected to long hours of waiting for the mandatory screening for the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, before the authorities let them exit the premises.

Several passengers took to social media to share their ordeal.

A Twitter user, Chaitanya Kabra said, "This is what is happening at Delhi airport. We landed at 7 am today and were made to stand in a long que for temperature checks. After that, we were made to sit in arrival hall for three hours."

So this is what happening at delhi airport. We landed at https://t.co/kPHGPVY8Lz today and were made to stand in a long que for temperature check. After that we were made to sit in arrival hall for 3 hours , still with no medical check ups and amongst undeclared symtomatic people

chaitanya kabra (@chaitanyakabra) March 21, 2020
Another user, Shailesh Patwa tweeted, "It is horrible situation at IGI Airport. Hundreds of travellers are being kept as a group touching each other for hours! My daughter is among them and she has sent me a video. It is SHOCKING that people are NOT maintaining safe distance! Can someone help IMMEDIATELY!"
22/03/20 Poulomi Saha/India Today

Lohegaon airport starts screening domestic flyers

Pune: The Pune airport started screening domestic flyers with a history of foreign travel from Friday, a senior authority of the facility said.

A state health department official said, “We ask the flyers about their travel history in the last 28 days and on that basis we screen them. We are trusting the information they give us,” the official said, adding the travellers with history of travel abroad are asked which country they visited, following which they are screened.
Pune airport director Kuldeep Singh said the state health department had commissioned two teams to carry out the screenings at the facility.

He said on an average, one passenger takes between 10 and 15 seconds to get screened.
At present, there are 170 flight movements at the airport and 85 domestic flights arrive at the facility. “There has been a drop of around 20 to 25% passengers in most flights,” an airline official said.
22/03/20 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

Coronavirus suspects being stamped at Patna airport

Patna: Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport, Patna on Saturday started to ‘stamp’ coronavirus suspects, who are returning to city from abroad.
Suspected passengers were marked with inedible ink on their hands after the screening and symptomatic heath check at the airport by the state health officials. The marked passengers are required to be home quarantined as a precaution to contain the potential spread of Covid-19.
CISF officials at Patna airport said the coronavirus suspects are being stamped on their left hands with a home quarantined tag.
Airport director Bhupesh C H Negi said all the passenger touch points, including chairs, railings, gate knobs, trolleys, washroom, counters and buses are being properly sanitized by the staffs. “We have also started thermal screening of departing passengers in security check area,” he added.
22/03/20 Faryal Rumi/Times of India

Video of Delhi Airport staff providing food and masks to passengers goes viral. Twitter hails them

A video shared by the official Twitter account of Delhi Airport providing assistance to the passengers is going viral. It is the most overwhelming thing you will see today.

In the viral video, staff at the international airport can be seen giving masks and food to the passengers waiting patiently in the sitting area. As the staff provides the passengers with the necessities, they can be seen applauding their efforts with much enthusiasm and smile on their faces.
The video was shared on Twitter with the caption, "In these testing times, your appreciation is what keeps us going. We continue to try our best to assist passengers and extend all possible support. #JantaCurfew #CoronaUpdatesInIndia #Covid19India #IndiaFightCorona."

The official Twitter handle of Delhi Airport thanked the people for their appreciation and promised that they would try to "assist passengers and extend all possible support."

They also shared pictures of the staff providing food and masks to passengers on the same thread.
22/03/20 India Today

Covid-19 hand-seal at airports, stations of Assam

Dibrugarh: Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the process of hand-stamping of passengers — arriving from coronavirus-affected states — at airports and railway stations will begin from Monday.

Incoming passengers from such states will be stamped with indelible ink right below the knuckles which will mention the date until which the person should remain quarantined at home.

The stamp will read: “I volunteer to remain home quarantined for a period of 14 days.”

A visible stamp on people’s hand is to ensure their stay at home and help others notice if they venture out in public. Already airports in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi have started this process.

“The hand-stamping equipment has not arrived yet. We are hopeful that from Monday we can start the stamping process of incoming passengers from coronavirus-affected state, at the airports. Regarding international passengers, the Centre had already announced that no international flights will be allowed to land in India for a week from Sunday,” Sarma said during his visit to the Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH), Dibrugarh, on Saturday.

He also appealed to the people to cooperate with the government and strictly follow the instructions to combat the novel coronavirus.
22/03/20 Avik Chakraborty/Telegraph

Saturday, March 21, 2020

8 flights from Chandigarh suspended

Mohali: Eight flights from Chandigarh, including an international one, have been suspended as a precautionary measure to check spread of coronavirus.
Indigo Airlines has suspended its Chandigarh-Dubai flight (6E55) till March 30 and the Dubai-Chandigarh flight (6E56) till March 26 with immediate effect. Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) spokesperson said Indigo has issued a formal letter informing about the suspension.

Indigo had recently regulated the frequency of the Dubai flight from daily to thrice a week and a few days later suspended it. The flight used to arrive from Dubai every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and depart every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Apart from this, the spokesperson said corona threat has also affected the domestic sector, as Indigo and GoAir have called off seven flights connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. Indigo has cancelled its flight 6E-264 Mumbai-Chandigarh-Mumbai, 6E-755 Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi, 6E-593 Bengaluru-Chandigarh-Bengaluru.

GoAir has cancelled its flights G8-104 Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi, G8-2507 Mumbai-Chandigarh-Mumbai, G8-109 Ahmedabad-Chandigarh-Ahmedabad, G8-138 Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi.
21/03/20 Times of India

Let people flying into Delhi from abroad take connecting domestic flights, Govt orders airlines

New Delhi: International passengers flying into India on Saturday faced trouble in being cleared by airlines for taking connecting domestic flights to their hometowns. Later in the day, health authorities and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had to direct airlines to allow them to fly to their home cities and get quarantines there.

Health authorities issued an advisory, asking all “airlines not to trouble home quarantine passengers and allow them (to) fly.”
“It is brought to the notice by doctors working for screening of passengers for COVID-19 travelling from abroad at IGI Airport, New Delhi, that airlines are refusing passengers to board for local/ national travel who are home quarantined. As per present (health ministry) instructions they can fly to their home and then quarantine (there) for 14 days. That's why at triage the health team are linking such passengers to the concerned states’ IDSP (integrated disease surveillance programme)… it is advised to all airlines not to trouble home quarantine passengers and allow them (to) fly,” says the advisory issued by Dr A K Gadpayle principal consultant ( DGHS) at IGI Airport.
21/03/20 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Over 100 Indians stranded at Amsterdam airport seek government intervention

New Delhi: Close to 100 Indian nationals stranded at Amsterdam airport amid coronavirus scare have urged the government to rescue them alleging that authorities did not allow their flight to land when it was just two hours away from New Delhi airport. A passenger also questioned why flights were being flown empty when there are passengers ready to embark.
A Twitter user by the name of Manju Pagarani expressed her anguish in a tweet on empty flights being flown to New Delhi leaving behind Indian passport holders stranded at the Amsterdam airport.

"This is our third day being stranded at the Amsterdam airport. We got to know that a flight is flying to New Delhi to bring travellers back to the Netherlands who are stranded in India. But that flight is flying empty and could have taken the Indians along who are stranded here at Amsterdam. We have been told that the Indian government will send a special flight for us. But why send a special flight when a plane is already flying from here to New Delhi," she said.

Pagarani urged the government to allow them to embark flights which are headed for New Delhi.

Tina Sapra, wife of a passenger who is also stranded at Amsterdam airport has written to the Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri pleading to help her husband and other stranded at the Amsterdam airport, reported IANS.

"My husband is among 100 others passengers in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where they have been stranded. They were turned back mid-air when the flight was just two-hours away from the Delhi airport. All these passengers, which include pregnant women and senior citizens, are Indian passport holders," Sapra told IANS.

Detailing on the ordeal faced by her husband and other co-passengers, Tina said the outbound flight from Chicago with thoroughfare to India was booked within advisory period, but the flight from Amsterdam to Delhi was redirected.

She added the officials at the Delhi airport allegedly suspected the origin of this flight was from Europe.

"This has led to an emotional turmoil, confusion, stress and undue personal hardship. There is no helpline or senior official to address our grievance," Sapra said.
21/03/20 Times of India

Man claims he wasn't screened; Ahmedabad airport releases CCTV footage

New Delhi: After a man took to social media to highlight lapses at Ahmedabad airport in screening international passengers for novel coronavirus, the airport authority countered the claim by releasing security footage as evidence.
Returning from Toronto, Canada, the passenger Abhimanyu on Saturday took to Twitter questioning the alleged lapses in screening process made mandatory by the government for any passenger travelling from a foreign country.

In his tweet, which has now been deleted but is already viral on social media, the passenger claimed that he didn't go through a thermal check-up at the airport checkout and was only asked to fill a self-declaration form and advised to self-isolate for two weeks.

Hours later, Ahmedabad airport responding to the passenger's tweet said that the CCTV footage showed him taking a thermal scan at the airport.

Notwithstanding the panic-triggering tweet, the authority took a serious note of the claim and held the passenger responsible for his statement calling it "inappropriate and hurting". The airport authority also urged him to "not spread panic in society and be a responsible citizen".
21/03/20 Times of India

Dipping flyer count leads to shutdown of airport shops

Kolkata: The international wing of Kolkata airport will be shut down for at least a week from Sunday morning. The domestic terminal will continue to function but the buzz will remain conspicuously absent as flyer count continues to fall. While at least 50 domestic flights are expected to be cancelled on Sunday, with uncertainty over Monday’s situation, many retail and food and beverage outlets at the facility are beginning to down shutters.
“The count of departing passengers in the international wing had declined from over 4,000 a day to barely 300-400 before international flights go off the radar from Sunday morning. Though the facility has been undergoing regular fumigation and clean-up, now that it will be closed, we will be able to undertake a thorough sanitizaton,” an official said. With the possibility of many passengers who passed through the facility being asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers, the clean-up is in order.

Food and beverage, and retail units that are dependant on departing passengers are bleeding with hardly any sales. As they prepared to shut down on Saturday, many were uncertain when they would reopen. Though the closure has been notified for a week, many of them believe that the lockdown could remain in place for quite some time as there is no end in sight to the global pandemic yet.
21/03/20 Times of India

MEA grants visa to woman, kid stranded at Dubai airport

Faridkot: Two days after they were stranded at Dubai Airport, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has allowed a six-month visa to a five-month-old child so that she could accompany her mother to Faridkot. A 23-year-old woman of Jeonwala village of Faridkot along with her five-month-old child Dilseerat was stuck at Dubai Airport after India and Canada shut their doors on them.

Living in Canada on a student visa, Navneet Kaur had left India three days ago with her Canada-born daughter. As Canadian borders have been closed for non-citizens, the authorities at Dubai Airport did not allow Navneet to travel to Canada. Navneet was left in a quandary as her daughter was being allowed to travel to Canada, but Dilseerat’s entry to India was not permitted, said Kultar Singh Sandhwan, AAP MLA from Kotkapura.

“I raised the issue with the MEA with the help of MP Bhagwant Singh Mann,” the MLA said. “Now, the MEA has given a six-month visa to Dilseerat and the mother and daughter can come to India,” said Sandhwan. Sukhchain Singh said Navneet had come to meet him and was returning Canada after over one-month stay.
21/03/20 Tribune

Health Officials To Oversee Screening At Airport

Kolkata: The Etihad Airways flight EY256 from Abu Dhabi was the last international flight to touch down at Kolkata airport at 3am on Sunday with the week-long ban on any further international flights kicking in from Sunday morning.
“All passengers will be thermal-screened and taken to the state quarantine facility for further checks,” said a senior official.

However, airport officials said international flights could depart from the city during the lockdown if foreign governments take permission to evacuate their stranded citizens. Indian national carrier Air India had operated evacuation flights to fly out Indians stuck in China and Iran.
Acting on pleas from various CMs, including Mamata Banerjee, to shut down international flights, citing that some of the flyers were asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers, the PIB had issued a notification on Thursday to shut all international commercial flights for a week from March 22.
21/03/20 Tamaghna Banerjee/Times of India

Chaotic Scenes Witnessed At Delhi Airport, Passengers Complain

Mumbai: Twitter was abuzz with concerning tweets since morning ahead of sealing of borders to international flights from tomorrow onwards, as people landing from abroad today at Delhi IGI airport, had to wait for medical checkup for more than 6 hours.  Some travellers have tweeted claiming to have waited for more than 14 hours.
Tweets with video footages show how social distancing is a distant dream when it comes to immigration counter as passengers from various international flights awaited their turn for check-up. Crowd management became a serious problem at the immigration counters, people started losing patience, some thumped the desk and started shouting.
Some passengers also tweeted about children and elderly people suffering the most as there is no access to food. Complaints were made about the thermal screening taking place with delays, medical practitioners being very casual and the time between screening and the receipt of certificates is ranging from three to four hours.
And all of the passengers coming from abroad are suggested home quarantine and being stamped. We urge passengers to keep calm. 150-200 passengers are on board every international flight, at one go everyone can't be screened. So twenty people are being screened at intervals., It’s bound to take time.” Another Delhi airport official says,“The staff of Air India and our Airport immigration officers are serving the country just like our armed forces. They are doing an extremely tough but terrific job.”
21/03/20 Shantasree Sarkar/Republic World

Friday, March 20, 2020

Second runway at KIA marks first landing

The second runway also known as the ‘South Runway’ at the Kempegowda Airport in Bengaluru on Thursday marked its first commercial flight landing. The SpiceJet flight SG497 flying from Mumbai to Bengaluru landed at 9.40 am.

With the second runway fully functional, the airport becomes the only Indian airport to have two parallel independent runways which can work simultaneously. Officials had earlier said 90 take-offs and touch-down in one hour can be carried out using the combined capacities.

The Bangalore International Airport Limited said, “With these regulatory clearances, the South Runway is now equipped to handle both arrivals and departures. BIAL is working with various stakeholders to commence rehabilitation projects of the North Runway (old runway).”

This new runway had begun operations at the end of the first week of December 2019 but till now was only being used for take offs. The runway is 4,000 metres long and 45 metres wide, and will be equipped to allow landing and take off of Airbus A380 and similar large passenger planes.
20/03/20 IBC World News

International freighters will be allowed to fly to and from India between March 22 and 29

New Delhi: The government has allowed international freighter aircraft to operate from and to India between March 22 and March 29.

On Thursday, the government had said that no scheduled international airline will be allowed into the country for a week starting this Sunday.

Mark Sutch, Regional General Manager, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Cathay Pacific Airways, confirmed to BusinessLine that Cathay Pacific will be operating freighter aircraft between March 22 and March 29.

“These are flights with a Boeing 747 freighter aircraft and not freighter flights operated as freighters,” he added.

It is common for foreign and domestic airlines to carry cargo apart from luggage in the belly of scheduled commercial flights. A Delhi-London flight could carry freight booked by an exporter and mail as freight apart from carrying the checked in bags of the passengers on the flight.

Cathay Pacific operates over 20 weekly freighter flights from Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.

A major component of the incoming cargo is said to be active pharma ingredients. Sources in other international airlines with freighter operations also confirmed that the authorities had said that international freighters will be allowed into India during the March 22-29 period.
20/03/20 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

Lucknow Airport Washes Hands Off Kanika Kapoor's COVID-19 Screening; Passes Buck To Mumbai

Mumbai: Singer Kanika Kapoor on Friday tested positive for the novel Coronavirus. She has been admitted to the King George's Medical University (KGMU) hospital in Lucknow. Kanika travelled to London recently and arrived in Lucknow last week. According to reports, she also did not inform authorities about her travel history and also managed to escape the screening at Lucknow airport, though the singer has denied the claims.

'There is no direct flight from London to Lucknow'
Lucknow airport in a statement released pinned the blame on Mumbai airport saying that her screening would have been done there and they would not like to comment on the issue.

The statement reads, "Passenger has travelled from London to Mumbai by Air India flight AI130 on 10th March. There is no direct flight from London to Lucknow. It is expected that as per Government of India's order, the screen would have been done at Mumbai. No comments of Lucknow airport on this. As per directives, passenger screening is being done only for international flights only."
Kapoor soon issued a statement on her Instagram after the news surfaced. She said, "For the past 4 days I have had signs of flu, I got myself tested and it came positive for Covid-19. My family and I are in complete quarantine now and following medical advice on how to move forward. Contact mapping of people I have been in touch with is underway as well.”
"I was scanned at the airport as per normal procedure 10 days ago when I came back home, the symptoms have developed only 4 days ago. At this stage I would like to urge you all to practice self-isolation and get tested if you have the signs," she added in her statement.
20/03/20 Jay Pandya/Republic

Hotline launched for Indian passengers stuck at Dubai Airport

The Consulate General of India in Dubai has launched an emergency hotline for Indian passengers who are facing issues at Dubai Airports transit and exit counters.

The Consulate General of India tweeted on Friday, "All Indian nationals facing issues during transit or exit at Dubai Airports are advised to be in touch with Consulate General of India Dubai 24-7 helpline number at 0097156 546 3093."

In light of UAE's announcement of a two-week suspension of entry for valid residence permit holders, who are currently overseas, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has also established a round-the-clock helpline to facilitate procedures, and provide assistance in emergency cases.
20/03/20 Dhanusha Gokulan/Khaleej Times

How authorities missed Delhi's first COVID-19 case at the airport

New Delhi: Now that Delhi's first COVID-19 positive patient is in recovery and has been restricted to home-quarantine, the 45-year-old businessman from Mayur Vihar has revealed that he was not screened at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on February 25, when he arrived from Europe. This information comes amid official government data that showed India is not conducting as many tests for the novel Coronavirus as many other affected countries.

However, what is alarming about Rohit Dutta's case is that by the time he had landed in India, he had spent four days in Italy, specifically in Milan and adjoining areas of Venice for business and yet airport authorities had failed to test him or screen him at the airport. In fact, Dutta said that at the time the virus had not spread to

Austria, from where he had flown in, and hence authorities did not feel the need to test. But days prior to his departure from Vienna, he had spent four days in Italy.

Curiously, officials in India have maintained that they started screening international passengers arriving from sensitive countries from January 17. Interestingly, by February 25, Europe had already reported its first COVID-19 death in France and on February 23, Italy had already seen a massive spike in COVID-19 cases — from less than five to more than 150 in less than 24 hours.
20/03/20 Abhinay Lakshman/millenniumpost

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Former Health Minister CP Thakur on closing of Indian airport

Cases of coronavirus infection are increasing in the country. Now the number of coronavirus patients in the country has crossed 170. The risk of spreading corona from the airport is highest. When ABP News asked former Union Health Minister CP Thakur whether proper checking is being done in airports to combat the virus, he said that the situation in India is largely under control and strict measures have been taken to control the spread of the virus.
19/03/20 ABP Live

Plea to jump scan queue in Calcutta airport

Calcutta: This is the request that Calcutta airport officials are often getting from senior government officials in Delhi and Calcutta for many international passengers.

The request, sources said, is actually a plea for help so the passengers can jump the long queue for the mandatory health screening for Covid-19.

“The number of facilitation requests has increased manifold since the health screening facility was set up at Calcutta airport following the coronavirus outbreak in many countries,” an airport official said.

The “facilitation” service is usually provided to senior government officials, ministers, judges, MPs, MLAs and a few others. According to sources, the person providing the facilitation meets the passenger, helps collect baggage and ensures the flier clears immigration and customs quickly.

In the domestic sector, “facilitators” help fliers collect luggage and leave the terminal without hassle.

“Facilitators” also help arrange wheelchairs.

“The request for facilitation mostly comes for domestic passengers because ministers, MPs and MLAs mostly travel within the country,” said an airport official.

But since the coronavirus outbreak, the number of requests for international passengers has gone up steeply. Many of the passengers don’t fall in the category that is usually provided the service, the sources said.

In many cases, the airport officials have to reject the request.

International passengers arriving at the airport now have to stand in an additional queue for health screening.

“It is taking 30 to 45 minutes on an average for a passenger to clear health screening,” an airport official said.
19/03/20  Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

Kolkata airport's immigration officers who checked Covid-19 infected youth sent to home quarantine

Kolkata: Two immigration officers posted at the Kolkata international airport, who had reportedly checked West Bengal's first and so far only Covid-19 infected youth while he was returning home from London via Mumbai, have been directed to stay in home quarantine for next 12 days, official said.
"As both of them were present in the immigration counter of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport (NSCBI-CCU) during the clearance of the 18-year-old Covid-19 victim and came in close contact with him, they have been asked to stay in home quarantine for next 12 days as a precautionary measure," a senior immigration official said.
The Covid-19 youth returned in the wee hours of Sunday (Mar 15) via Mumbai from London.
The Covid-19 infected youth is currently undergoing treatment in a stable condition in Beliaghata ID hospital, and his parents and two drivers have been kept in hospital isolation while they were found negative for novel coronavirus after the first test on Wednesday.
Amid the lockdown in various cities, the total positive Novel Coronavirus cases including the cured and deaths in India rose to 184 on Thursday.
19/03/20 India Blooms

Health Minister pays surprise visit at Delhi airport

New Delhi: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan made a surprise late night inspection of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport (T-3) to take stock of the arrangements here and the preparedness in view of COVID-19 spread.

He reviewed the screening being done at Terminal-3 and instructed the authorities present. He also interacted with travellers and doctors.

Every person is being screened at all the international airports in the country. Earlier, only passengers coming from select countries were being monitored, but now with the implementation of the new rules, all the passengers coming in are being screened.
19/03/20 Siasat.com

Calcutta Airport screening for domestic passengers

The state health department on Tuesday started screening domestic passengers arriving at the city airport for coronavirus symptoms.

Till Monday, only those arriving from abroad were being screened.

“Health workers with hand-held infra-red thermometers were screening passengers arriving on domestic flights,” an airport official said. “The passengers are being screened for fever and any other coronavirus symptom such as cold and cough.”

The passengers are being screened near the exit gates 1A, 1B, 3A and 3B, through which domestic fliers leave the terminal. “Those displaying symptoms of possible coronavirus infection will be sent to government hospitals for further medical examinations,” the official said.
Till late in the evening, no one was sent for tests.

Around 25,000 domestic passengers arrived at the Calcutta airport on Tuesday, said officials. Many are students studying in other cities. Almost all were returning home because of shutdowns announced by various state governments to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
19/03/20 Telegraph

Karnataka starts marking passengers at airport

Bengaluru: Karnataka Health Minister B. Sriramulu on Thursday said the state government has started marking passengers at the city airport, required to be home quarantined as a precaution to contain the potential spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

"COVID-19 passengers hands being stamped at international airport, Bengaluru. #Indiafightscorona," tweeted Sriramulu.

He shared three photographs of passengers being stamped at the Kempegowda International Airport.

The region above the knuckle of a fossil watch wearing man's left hand bore the stamp: Proud to protect Bengaluru. Home quarantined till April 3.
On Wednesday evening, state Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey highlighted that some people under home quarantine are not following the procedures properly.

He said the health department will stamp such people.

"It has been decided to stamp the back of palm of left hand of such passengers with a specially designed stamp which will indicate the last day of quarantine," Pandey said in a statement.
19/03/20 daijiworld

What awaits those flying in from coronavirus hotspots

New Delhi: Passengers flying into Delhi from the novel coronavirus hotspots abroad but not showing any symptoms of the infection may be “hand stamped” — like Maharashtra has been doing — to ensure they do not break the mandatory home quarantine. On Wednesday, the central government notified the standard operating procedure (SOP) for travellers landing at IGIA after a ruckus at the Terminal 3 arrivals on Monday morning over quarantine procedures.
After videos of agitated passengers at Terminal 3 went viral, the SOP was issued on Wednesday, just in time for the highest level of precautions kicking in — disallowing entry into India flying direct from Europe, UK and Malaysia, among others. In addition, anyone coming or transiting from UAE, including Dubai, Qatar and seven other countries needs to be quarantined for at least 14 days.

The flow chart of the disembarkation process, to be handled by joint teams of the airport, CISF, immigration, customs, Delhi government and other agencies, shows four steps.

Health screening on disembarkation: The airlines will escort passengers via dedicated aerobridges to counters manned by the Airport Health Organisation for initial thermal screening. The symptomatic passengers will be isolated and shifted to designated hospitals.

While the aviation ministry has been asked to stagger the arrival of flights from affected areas to ensure smooth disembarkation process, it is possible that people may fly in from virus hotspots in airlines of non-hotspot countries, creating some confusion and difficulties at IGIA.

Immigration: After the screening, asymptomatic passengers will head to designated immigration counters with a copy of the self-reporting form (SRF). Immigration officials will hand over batches of 30 cleared passengers to a five-member escort team, headed by a CISF officer and comprising representatives of DIAL, the airlines and Delhi Police.

The passports of the passengers will be retained by immigration officials and given to the CISF lead officer. The SOP stresses, “Passports shall not be handed over to passengers at any cost.” The 30 passengers will then collect their luggage and clear customs.

Control room: The escort team will move to a designated room manned by Delhi government officials and a batch number will be assigned to the 30 passengers.
Triage room: The escort head will hand over the passports of the 30 passengers to the medical officer in-charge at the counter. The passengers will all be screened at the five screening counters manned by medical officers and paramedical staff deputed by Delhi government.
19/03/20 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India