More options for flyers to Pune, Mumbai, A’bad from 1st

While most of the flights currently operating from city are witnessing as low as 30 per cent occupancy, city’s air passengers will have more options from June 1. According to sources, GoAir is all set to start its services on Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad routes. Air India and IndiGo had resumed services from May 25 to select destinations, but suspended operations on some of the routes after a day. Due to confusion and low turnout of passengers, air services were called off.

As of now only couple of flights are leaving form Nagpur, sources said. However, GoAir will start Nagpur-Pune flight which will take off at 10.20 am from city and reach the destination at 12 noon. GoAir’s another flight on Pune-Nagpur will depart from Pune at 7.25 am and reach Nagpur at 8.50 am. Similarly, Nagpur-Ahmedabad flight will depart at 8.45 am and reach Ahmedabad at 10.25 am. Ahmedabad-Nagpur flight will take off from Ahmedabad at 5.05 pm and arrive at Nagpur at 6.30 pm. Also, Nagpur-Mumbai flight will take off at 7.30 pm and reach Mumbai at 9.10 pm whereas Mumbai-Nagpur flight will depart from Mumbai at 6.15 am and reach Nagpur at 7.40 am.

Air India had announced flights on Delhi-Nagpur route on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Similarly, Air India flight was supposed to depart from Nagpur at 10 am and arrive at Delhi 11.50 am on Monday, Thursday and Saturday said one of the travel agents adding that the national air carrier had suspended the services. Indigo is operating select flights on Mumbai, Delhi and Bangaluru routes. Meanwhile, IndiGo is operating two flights on Nagpur-Mumbai route. Flight 6E-297 departs daily from Nagpur at 11.30 am and reaches Mumbai at 1 pm.
31/05/20 Hitavada

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Seven more international flights expected with stranded Goans

Panaji: Seven more international repatriation flights may touch down at Goa International Airport in a few days time with permission to land at Dabolim being sought from the director general of civil aviation. These flights are aside from the four repatriation flights from Sri Lanka which will bring back seafarers.

“One repatriation flight operated by Sri Lankan Airlines will arrive at Goa International Airport on Sunday with 162 passengers. The flight, UL 1147, will land around 10.20pm,” sources said.

“We have seven more repatriation flights getting in line. The work is on and nothing is finalised as of now,” an official said.
On Saturday, four domestic flights landed at the Dabolim airport with 152 passengers and 234 passengers took flights out to Delhi, Mysore and Bengaluru. Two flights were operated between Goa and the national capital.
IndiGo operated two flights while Vistara and Alliance Air operated one flight to Delhi and Mysore respectively.
31/05/20 Times of India

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Flight count at Kolkata airport to go up to 75 from Monday

Kolkata: The flight count at Kolkata airport is set to shoot up from only 11 at present to 75 from Monday. The number of flights is exactly a third of the 225 domestic flights that operated from Kolkata prior to the lockdown.
"We are looking forward to Monday when Kolkata airport will have a semblance of normalcy. Till now, we had been severely constrained by the low flight count. But the situation should improve from Monday with multiple flights by each of the six airlines in operation to all metros," an airport official said.

IndiGo will operate the highest number of flights with connections to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bagdogra, Guwahati, Lucknow, Nagpur, Raipur, Patna, Agartala, Imphal, Varanasi and Port Blair. SpiceJet will have the second highest flight count followed by Air India, GoAir, Air Asia and Vistara. Together, the carriers will offer direct flights to 24 cities and towns.

The travel trade fraternity, while welcoming the increase in flight count, was wary of how viable so many flights would be once the initial urgent travel needs are over. On Saturday, 1,745 passengers arrived while only 1,219 passengers departed the city.
31/05/20 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India

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Now, swab test on arrival for passengers at Bengaluru airport

Bengaluru: Indians stuck overseas due to coronavirus pandemic are being airlifted everyday and brought back to the country. Due to this thousands of passengers are arriving at the airport. This has caused an uphill task to the state government, especially as many of the returnees have ended up testing positive for coronavirus.
In Karnataka, the number of coronavirus positive cases have risen drastically due to people arriving here from other states of the country. To take better control of the situation, the state government has decided to do swab testing for passengers at the airport itself.
In Karnataka, the number of coronavirus positive cases have risen drastically due to people arriving here from other states of the country. To take better control of the situation, the state government has decided to do swab testing for passengers at the airport itself.
31/05/20 daijiworld

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Chandigarh: Flights departing with just 26% capacity

Mohali: Poor occupancy is hurting flight operators in regaining momentum since the domestic operations were allowed from May 25 after a gap of almost two months.

Flights departed with just 26% occupancy and arrived with 42% at the Chandigarh international airport in five days, according to Airports Authority of India (AAI) data.

A total of 2,376 passengers had arrived and 1,433 departed. As many as 31 flights operated from Chandigarh from May 25 to May 29, bringing and taking 3,809 passengers only.
Each aircraft has a capacity of 180 passengers on an average. In an ideal scenario, 5,580 passengers should have arrived and an equal number departed. The arrival of 2,376 passengers in 31 flights pegs the occupancy rate at 42%. Similarly, the occupancy rate for departures was 26%, with 1,433 people leaving the city.
A leading flight operator at the airport said, “On an average, we get 75% occupancy in a flight from Delhi and Mumbai, but here we are yet to break even. A single flight to Mumbai fetched a sale of Rs 14 lakh for to-and-fro trip. On May 29 Mumbai flight arrived with full capacity but departed with just 35 passengers, which is just 19% occupancy. In a single day, we sustained losses of Rs 6 lakh per flight.”
31/05/20 Barinderjit Saluja/Times of India

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5,442 flyers pass through Mumbai airport on day 5

Mumbai airport handled 5,442 passengers on Friday, on 50 flights-25 arrivals (1,306 passengers) and 25 departures (4,136 passengers).
The highest passenger load was seen on the Mumbai to Varanasi route. The first flight left for Kolkata at 6.05am, and the first flight arrived at 8.10am from Lucknow, operated by SpiceJet and IndiGo, respectively.
30/05/20 Times of India

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Construction works of airstrip at Kishtwar to begin soon

Jammu: The stage is all set for the construction full-fledged airstrip at Kishtwar under Regional Connectivity Scheme called Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) of the Union Government.

This facility would be of immense help for the vast population of erstwhile Doda district, which is in the dire need of the same because of the remote and tough terrain.

The plan to construct full-fledged airstrip at Kishtwar was mooted over two years back but the project got delayed as some formalities were to be completed with the Ministry of Defence in view of existing air-strip being used for the defence purpose only.

Moreover, acquisition of more land was also taking time for the construction of full-fledged airstrip as the land already in the possession of the Army was not sufficient to have 1200 meter mandatory length of the airstrip for operation of aircrafts.

Actually, Army had certain reservations about the utilization of existing airstrip for the civilian aircrafts and was of the opinion that such a step may hamper operation of its helicopters, which carry logistics to several far-off areas of Doda and Kishtwar regularly.

However, all the reservations of the Army have finally been cleared after series of meetings with the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Department of Civil Aviation of Jammu and Kashmir convened on the direct intervention of Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also Member of Parliament from Udhampur-Doda-Kathua Parliamentary Constituency.
30/05/20 Dispatch

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Bangalore Airport Increases User Development Fee, Tickets to Become Costlier

New Delhi: The Kempegowda International Airport has raised the user development fee (UDF) by 17% for departing international passengers, and 3% for domestic passengers, to compensate for revenue loss, an official said on Saturday.
The new UDF will be applicable from June 1 for the year 2020-21.
“The revised UDF for departing passengers at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru is Rs 184 per pax (domestic) and Rs 839 per pax (international),” said an airport official. Also Read - Domestic Flights: Services Will Become Normal in Six Months, By Diwali, Says Minister Hardeep Singh Puri
Earlier, the UDF was Rs 179 per pax (domestic) and Rs 716 per pax (international).
The UDF for domestic departing passengers rose by 3% and for international passengers by 17 per cent.
Will tickets become costlier?
Yes, tickets will become costlier but as far as domestic flights are concerned, the hike will be negligible. For international tickets, though, the hike is significant. In fact, the user development fee of Bengaluru airport was much higher than this in 2019. In a revision, the fee was made Rs 306 for domestic flights. Later, it was rolled back.
30/05/20 India.com

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GMR moves HC over cancellation of airport modernization contract

Nagpur: Infrastructure major GMR has approached Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court challenging annulment of bidding process for modernization of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport here.
A division bench comprising justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Kilor on Friday issue notices to the respondents including Mihan India Limited (MIL) and secretary of administrative reforms and special projects at the State General Administration Department (GAD). RM Bhangde received notice on MIL’s behalf.
While adjourning the hearing till June 12, the bench clarified that if any fresh tenders are invited, those would be subjected to the result of this petition.

The petitioners — GMR Airports Limited and GMR Nagpur International Airport Limited — prayed for quashing MIL’s letter issued to them on March 19 annulling the airport bidding process without awarding the contract.
Through senior counsel Jugalkishor Gilda and Charuhas Dharmadhikari, the petitioners demanded directives to the respondents on not undertaking any steps as per the March 19 letter that would be detrimental to their interests and also not to create third party rights in the project by issuing fresh tenders.

According to them, after acceptance of their bid on March 7 last year, the contract has already started. “The MIL asked us to increase revenue sharing percentage, which we were not legally required to do. However, we increased it by almost three times. Still, without assigning any reason, show cause notice or opportunity, the MIL arbitrarily cancelled the bid,” the counsels contended.
30/05/20 Vaibhav Ganjapure/Times of India

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Mumbai airport CEO says situation grave, next 6-12 months crucial

The current situation of Indian aviation is grave and the next 6-12 months will be important in assessing the impact of COVID-19 on air travel, Mumbai International Airport CEO Rajeev Jain said.

Speaking in CAPA India webinar on designing a sustainable roadmap for the revival of Indian aviation, Jain said that no one understood the gravity of the situation in January and no one expected it to unfold the way it has.

"Everybody has to conserve cash right now and has to restart incurring capex after seeing what exactly unfolds in at least next 6 months to one year. That is very very important," Jain said.

As 80% costs of an airport are fixed in terms of interest burden, utility cost, maintenance expenses and employees cost, it is going to be a challenge to deal with low footfalls and there is not much scope to shift fixed cost into variable cost.

"Airports are lumpy investments, there is a lot of capex at the beginning. Hence, interest burden and repayment schedule are going to be a challenge unless something is done in a broader way. Moratorium may not be sufficient. 80% costs are fixed whether one passenger flies or more," Jain said.

Reiterating that the situation is unexpected and unprecedented, Jain pointed out that while India took the timely step of imposing lockdown, there is fear in lifting the lockdown.

The different quarantine rules and health protocols of various states have also led to a peculiar situation.
30/05/20 Anu Sharma/CNBC TV18

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Radhika Madan Explains New Airport Rules Amid COVID-19 Phase as She Reaches Home in Delhi

On Wednesday, actor Radhika Madan flew from Mumbai to Delhi to be with her family in these trying times. The actor posted a picture of herself on social media in which she could be seen wearing a mask, gloves, and a face shield while posing at the Mumbai airport with her luggage. Now, in her latest interaction with Mid-Day, she revealed how it seemed like a scene from a film and a solid realisation of what is going to be the new normal post-COVID-19 period. Radhika explained the kind of safety measures the airport authorities are taking for the passengers.
She said human contact has been reduced to the minimum and the staff is ensuring that all the norms of social distancing are followed. Radhika revealed that the passengers are now not allowed to physically hand over their boarding passes or other documents to the security. She added that the airline crew is also making sure that there’s no crowd while boarding or de-boarding a plane. The Angrezi Medium actor explained, “It was a scene out of an apocalyptic film and this is perhaps our future. They did temperature checks, and ensured there was zero physical contact – we had to show our IDs and boarding passes through a glass shield; there were glass barriers at baggage counters too. (The airline staff) boarded and de=boarded us sequentially, two rows at a time, (thus ensuring there was no crowding). I avoided using the washrooms. I was cautious, but not scared.”
As soon as Radhika reached her residence in Delhi, she went under self-isolation for 14 days.
30/05/20 India.com

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Kochi airport sees 11 arrivals, 10 departures

Kochi:  The Kochi airport saw 11 arrivals and 10 departures in the domestic sector after internal flights resumed on Friday. The airport handled five arrivals and seven departures till 5.30 pm with 399 inbound and 379 outbound passengers. It included one flight operated by Air Asia India to Bhubaneswar by special arrangement carrying 167 passengers. Three return services-- Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Mumbai -- and one departure to Mysuru were cancelled.

On Thursday, the airport handled 827 arrival and 508 departure passengers. Meanwhile, the Vande Bharath services are being operated as planned. CIAL scheduled Dubai (IX 1434), Muscat ( IX1442) and Yerevan (Armenia) -Delhi-Kochi flight for Friday. Dubai flight had 181 passengers and the Muscat flight carried 177.
30/05/20 New Indian Express

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Some habits die hard at Calcutta airport

Calcutta: The city airport is up and running with a host of new features in keeping with the new normal of a Covid world. Some things haven’t changed, though.

Tubs
The roof still leaks and on Thursday, at least 10 tubs were placed across the check-in area in the terminal building.
Airport officials blamed Cyclone Amphan. Corrugated sheets had been blown away from a large part of the 7,500sq m roof. “The roof has four layers, of which the top layer has been severely damaged by the cyclone. Many joints have been damaged and some have come off,” airport director Kaushik Bhattaharya said on Friday.

Touts
A man approached a passenger the moment he stepped out of Gate No. 3A on Thursday. “He asked if I needed a taxi. He left only when I told him I didn’t need any,” the passenger from Mumbai said.
Cancer patient Tauser Ali Mandal and his wife Jahanara Mandal reached from Mumbai on Thursday. They were approached by many people as they waited for a car to arrive from their hometown in Nadia’s Tehatta. “They told us that they could arrange a taxi,” Jahanara said on Friday. “One of them insisted he could get a ‘good fair’ depending on the distance. We refused.”
Touts had a field day as taxis and app cabs were few, an airport official said. “Although there were several buses, many people wanted a taxi or an app cab.”

Queues
Long queues at the entrance to the departure area and in front of check-in counters have returned. The new rules are causing delay and leading to accumulation of passengers, according to airport and airline officials.

Yellow lines have been drawn and passengers have been told to stand behind them. But on Friday morning, distancing rules went for a toss on some occasions.
30/05/20  Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

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1,343 natives of Rajasthan arrived at Jaipur airport from abroad in 11 flights till Friday

Jaipur: In total, 1,343 natives of Rajasthan have arrived at Jaipur airport in 11 flights till Friday evening under the Centre''s mega evacuation mission amid the coronavirus-forced lockdown, an official said.
The people who arrived here on Friday under the Vande Bharat Mission include 98 from Almaty, 180 from Dubai, while 150 passengers will arrive from Kuwait later in the night, Additional Chief Secretary Industries Subodh Agarwal said.
He said those returning from abroad all the migrants from abroad are being sent to institutional quarantine for seven days followed by another week of home quarantine.
29/05/20 PTI/Outlook

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In a first, 'smart' gate coming up at Kannur airport to screen passengers for COVID-19

Thiruvananthapuram: India’s first smart Artificial Intelligence-enabled temperature screening airport gate is coming up at Kannur. It will be implemented by next week by Parliamentarians with Innovators for India (PII), a social organisation working to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 70-member core team of PII got in touch with a UK-based innovative company ten days ago to procure various components for the AI-enabled temperature screening airport gate. Anil K Antony, who is the national coordinator of PII, told The New Indian Express that the capacity of the latest AI-enabled temperature screening airport gate is larger and its accuracy matchless.

“This is the first of its kind in India which is a good first-level scanning facility at the entry gate of the Kannur airport. It is a low-cost AI equipment coming up for Rs 13 lakh as our primary aim is to work with CSR partners who are attached to PII. Our overall focus is on cost-effective equipment,” said Antony who has already come up with a slew of projects to combat COVID-19 under the banner of PII across the country, including his home state.
Though Kannur MP K Sudhakaran is not a member of PII, he is also associated with the setting up of the AI-enabled temperature screening airport gate at the airport. V Thulasidas, managing director of KIAL, confirmed to The New Indian Express that all gates at Kannur airport will be having the temperature screening facilities from next week.
“Already three devices have arrived and two more are expected by Monday. Within the next week, all the gates of Kannur airport will have the temperature screening facilities. What we need when a flight arrives is to check the temperature of all the passengers without waiting for a long time,” said Thulasidas. He also informed that the latest facility will be used for checking the temperature of staff as well.
28/05/20 Cynthia Chandran/New Indian Express

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Sonowal reviews arrangements at Airport

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday reviewed the arrangements for registration and screening of inbound and outbound passengers at the Lokopriyo Gopinath International airport here which resumed operations on Monday following lockdown relaxations. The state government is taking steps to bring back people stranded in various parts of the country through different modes of travel, the chief minister told reporters here. He said that so far 3421 people have arrived in Assam by 38 flights against 1190 people who have flown out. The state government was taking all measures to ensure that the travelers do not face any difficulty, Sonowal added. He appreciated the role played by health, transport, police, tax, excise departments etc in close coordination with Airports Authority of India and CISF for facilitating smooth movement of people. He also praised the services rendered by drivers and staffs of Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) buses and thanked the people of the state for staying united in this fight against COVID-19. The chief minister also flagged off the cargo flight carrying pumpkins produced by states farmers to Dubai at the Cargo Terminal of the airport. He said that the produce of the farmers in the state had been exported to markets in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London, Hong Kong and Singapore among others. The chief minister also informed that steps were being taken to export states agricultural produce by steamers from Pandu port here through the Brahmaputra at the initiative of Industries department. He expressed optimism that all these measures would help in achieving the target of doubling farmers income by 2022 set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while providing access to a wider market to states farmers.
28/05/20 PTI/Outlook

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Vindu Dara Singh flies from Chandigarh to Mumbai, shares airport video

Mumbai: Vindu Dara Singh flew from Chandigarh to Mumbai on Friday morning. The actor took to Twitter to share a video from Chandigarh airport where it was raining in the morning.
Sharing the video of a half empty Chandigarh airport, Vindu tweeted: "Taking my first flight since ages #Chandigarh to #Mumbai and the airport is immaculate with all precautions! It's a joke when they say a person landed and got positive on a 2 hour flight despite mask ect just 33 on board so airlines in loss but so is the world ! Life will go on."
Commenting on his tweet, a user asked him why is he travelling to Mumbai at a time when COVID 19 positive cases are spiking in the city. Replying to the comment, the actor offered an explanation.
He wrote: "Jahan testing zyada wahan cases zyada (where testing is being done in huge numbers, more cases are being detected) and mumbai has a lot of people living in close proximity so it will definitely have maximum tension with positive cases but it's a city that never stops and has a never say die spirit. We will rock again soon in aamchi. #Mumbai."
29/05/20 daijiworld

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Flight service resumes at Rajkot airport

Rajkot: The flight service resumed at Rajkot airport after two months on Thursday.
The first flight from Mumbai landed at Rajkot airport with 77 passengers. In return, 36 passengers from Rajkot boarded the flight to Mumbai.

However, the airport authorities at Rajkot are yet to receive a proper schedule of flights. It is yet not clear when the next flight will land.

According to sources, the flight operation will resume based on the number of bookings. SpiceJet operated the 120-seater aircraft Airbus 319 between Mumbai and Ahmedabad via Rajkot.
Of the 77 passengers who arrived, 30 have been taken to quarantine facility of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC). The list of passengers going to other districts has been sent in their respective districts and talukas for health check ups.
29/05/20 Times of India

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Flights continue to get cancelled

Panaji: Domestic flights continued to receive a poor response with just six scheduled flights operating on Thursday out of Goa International airport, said officials. Data provided by officials showed that 71 passengers arrived and 182 passengers took the flights out of Goa.
Along with the scheduled flights, a Rossiya repatriation flight to St Petersburg with 357 passengers, including eight children, took off from Goa International Airport.

“Till date, 8,042 adults and 89 infants have taken repatriation flights out of Goa,” said Goa Airport Director Gagan Malik.

Flights between Goa and Mysore continued to face poor demand, with just one passenger boarding the Alliance Air flight 9I 896 to Mysore. The flight arrived with just four passengers from Mysore, said airport officials.
IndiGo operated the other two domestic flights to Delhi and Bengaluru.
29/05/20 Times of India

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Private aircraft expected to land at Mangaluru airport

Mangaluru: A private aircraft is expected to land at the international airport here from Dubai. The flight is awaiting permission from the directorate of civil aviation.
The flight will have 175 passengers. It had been booked last week. But for landing in India, the aircraft needs permission from the civil aviation directorate. The company operating the said aircraft has taken up the matter with the directorate and the flight will take off only after getting permission. This flight is expected to bring passengers here on May 29 or 30.
If this flight arrives, it will be the third flight from Dubai to land at Mangaluru after the lockdown was lifted, and the first private aircraft to do so.
29/05/20 daijiworld

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With Masks And Gloves, Delhi Airport Reassures Fliers With Strict Rules

New Delhi: Indira Gandhi International Airport that serves as the country's major international aviation hub has donned a new look to avoid any kind of commotion after domestic flights resumed on May 25.
Passengers queuing up for preliminary checking at Terminal 3 would require to stand on blue and red strips marked on the floor to help them follow social distancing.

At the entry-gate, security checks temperature by a thermal scanner after which passengers are required to show Aarogya Setu app that provides the latest status of the app holder.

After the luggage sanitisation process is completed, at the entry get inside the airport passengers would require to stand on a carpet soaked in sanitizer to get even their shoe soles sanitized.

Inside the airport, at the smoking zone, a passenger Ayush Kumar, 32, headed for Varanasi, said, "I am very confident to air travel now after experiencing all the latest regulations put forth by Airport Authority of India. Even in the smoking zone, not more than five persons are allowed and they also need to stand on the red and blue stripes."
Drinking water facilities that previously had to be operated by hand has now been fitted with mechanism that can be pushed with a leg to avoid any hand contacts.

A senior citizen Ramachandra, 65, travelling to Kochi said, "I am going to Kochi from Delhi after staying here at my daughter's place for two months. The arrangements are very substantial and well-watched. If one is wearing a mask and taking precautionary measures travelling will be worry-free."
29/05/20 ANI/NDTV

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No visible swarm of locusts near airport area: Mumbai air traffic control

Mumbai: With reports of locusts-sighting in certain parts of the city, the Mumbai air traffic control has alerted its controllers to keep an eye for these grasshoppers. But currently, there are no reports of sightings large enough to impact flight operations.
"Currently, we don’t find any such visible group of locusts in our area," said Rajeev Mehta, general manager, Mumbai air traffic control. "We have alerted our controllers though to keep a watch for these swarms. In case if there is anything, we will take caution," he said. Responding to the unverified images and clips doing rounds on WhatsApp about locusts sightings in Mumbai, Mehta said that "it might be a small bunch of locusts which has entered Mumbai". He added: "If they come in aircraft path, when descending or take-off, they are too small to cause significant impact to engines, their mass is significantly smaller than that of birds. If it’s not a big swarm, it’s not likely to cause any significant impact on aircraft operations."
A senior commander said that huge swarm of locusts could cause a problem to aircraft flying at lower heights during a take-off or approach to land. "A few locusts might not cause any damage, even if ingested into aircraft engines. But a dense swarm of locusts might be worrisome, not only because they would get sucked into the engine by hundreds causing problems, but also because they would impair visibility from cockpit, which could affect an approach to land," he added.
28/05/20 Manju V/Times of India

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HC notices on plea over cancellation of airport project award

Nagpur: The Bombay High Court on Friday issued notices to the Maharashtra government and MIHAN India Ltd on a petition filed by GMR Airports Ltd challenging the cancellation of their award for upgradation and operation of the city-based Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.

In its petition, GMR Airports Ltd challenged the "unjust, arbitrary and illegal action" of MIHAN India Ltd in annulling the bidding process for upgradation, modernisation, operation and management of the international airport at Nagpur despite the process having come to an end and the petitioner (GMR) already having been awarded the project by way of a letter of award on March 7, 2019.

As per the plea, Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), a joint venture company between Maharashtra Airport Development Company and Airports Authority of India (AAI), is now planning on issuing fresh tenders for the project.

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Justices S B Shukre and A S Kilor, on Friday issued notices to MIHAN and the government and posted the matter for further hearing on June 12.

"If any fresh tenders are invited, the same shall be subject to the result of this petition," the court said.
29/05/20 PTI/Outlook

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Chennai airport to handle 47 flights including one to Bagdogra

Chennai: Chennai airport will handle 23 departures, including a flight to Bagdogra, and 24 arrivals on Friday. There will be four departures to Delhi and three departures to Bengaluru.
As per the schedule released on Thursday, an IndiGo flight to Delhi at 6.35am will be the first departure of the day. The last flight of the day will be an Air India flight to Delhi at 9.30pm. The Chennai-Bagdogra flight by SpiceJet will depart at 9.55am.
The first arrival for the day will be a SpiceJet flight from Bengaluru at 8.45am and the last arrival will be an IndiGo flight from Delhi at 10.15pm.
The destinations are Delhi, Coimbatore, Madurai, Bengaluru, Salem, Bagdogra, Kadapa, Port Blair, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mangalore.
28/05/20 V Ayaappan/Times of India

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Domestic travel: 252 in Mohali under home quarantine

Mohali: A total of 252 persons from the district, who landed at the Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) since the beginning of domestic flights on May 25, have been put under home quarantine.
Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said on May 25, 495 passengers arrived on seven flights and out of these, 223 belonged to Punjab, including 57 from Mohali. He said on May 26, six flights arrived with 419 passengers out of which 193 were from Punjab (69 from Mohali). On May 27, 530 passengers landed at the Chandigarh airport and out of these, 228 were from Punjab, including 63 from Mohali. Today, five flights arrived with 512 passengers of whom 208 were from Punjab, including 64 from Mohali.

Dayalan said the only international flight that landed at the Chandigarh airport was a connecting one from the USA which came via Delhi. The flight had 100 passengers with 61 from Punjab, including five from Mohali.

As per the Health Department protocol, all domestic travellers belonging to Mohali district have to be put under home quarantine. Those belonging to other states and districts were sent to their respective places. Meanwhile, all international passengers have been quarantined at institutions or hotels.
28/05/20 Tribune

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Flight services in Agartala put on hold till May 31

Agartala: In Tripura, the flight services which were to resume at the MBB Airport Agartala from May 25 have been put on hold until May 31 next due to cancellation of flights.

Sources from the MBB Airport informed that there is no significant lead about the flight resumption at MBB Airport till May 31 next as  Air India and AirAsia is not likely to restart services till May 31.

While addressing a press conference here in the civil secretariat, the Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath  said that the “Air India” and “Air Asia” flights would not resume flights till May 31.
28/05/20 North East Today

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Buzz back at Kolkata airport as flight operations start after 2 months

Kolkata: When the Alliance Air flight took off for Guwahati from Kolkata at 6.05am on Thursday, relief was palpable among passengers, airline staff and airport officials, all for different reasons.
People stranded away from home for over two months were finally glad to fly back to their families. Airlines employees in the city were glad to see operations resume after two months of uncertainty and tension when several colleagues and friends had either lost their jobs or were sent on leave without pay. Officials of the Airports Authority of India were relieved that Kolkata was back on the aviation map, albeit three days after rest of India.
Caught in the middle of an emergency following a monstrous cyclone that devastated the city, the state government had called for postponement of flight operations till Thursday and had asked the civil aviation ministry to schedule fewer flights initially so that it had time to prepare for issues like quarantine of suspects.

The fears weren’t unfounded. A passenger in his mid-40s travelling with his relatives to the city from Delhi was detected with fever and taken to the quarantine centre in New Town. If he or his family members test Covid-19 positive, those seated alongside as well as in the row in front and back will be alerted so that they can report at the onset of any Covid-like symptom. They have also been advised home quarantine for 14 days.

“One of the passengers who arrived from Delhi by an AirAsia flight had high temperature. He was asked to wait in an isolation chamber along with two relatives. They were given PPE kits and taken to the quarantine facility in an ambulance escorted by a police vehicle. After they exited, the isolation chamber was disinfected,” an airport official said.
On the first day of flight resumption, 1,745 passengers departed and 1,214 passengers arrived in the 11 flights that operated. In additional to the five IndiGo, two Spicejet and one Air India, AirAsia and Vistara flight, AI subsidiary Alliance Air also operated a flight to Dibrugarh on Thursday.
29/05/20 Tamaghna Banerjeee/Times of India

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Tripura: First flight in 67 days with 167 passengers arrives at MBB Airport

The first flight in 67 days, carrying 167 passengers from Kolkata, landed at the MBB Airport in Agartala on Friday.

Agartala: MBB director VK Seth informed that an Indigo Flight from Kolkata reached Agartala on Friday morning, making it the first flight in 67 days to have landed in the state.
“Another flight will reach Tripura tomorrow as well,” he further said.

Meanwhile, Air India and Air Asia have suspended all its flights to Agartala till May 31.
Seth also informed that even though it was decided to begin the domestic flight service from MBB Airport from May 28, however, it had to be postponed till May 31 due to some reasons.

Even though the domestic flight service began in the country from May 25, however, no flight came to Agartala flight services from Kolkata were suspended till May 27.
The MBB airport authorities, meanwhile, have already beefed up arrangements to prevent any kind of spread of COVID-19.
29/05/20 NorthEast Now

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180 to fly in from Mumbai

Ranchi/ Jamshedpur: If Jharkhand’s migrants we­re the first to be sent home by a special Shramik train on May 1 from Telangana to Ranchi, the state’s migrants will also be the first to be airlifted from Mumbai to Ranchi on Thursday.

The alumni network of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, has leased an AirAsia aircraft to shift 180 migrant workers who hail from various districts of Jharkhand and are stranded in Mumbai during the prolonged lockdown. This is the first instance when a group of private individuals have raised funds to lease a chartered plane and rescue stranded migrant workers during the lockdown. The flight from Mumbai airport is likely to take off on 6am and reach Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi at 8.50am.

On why such an initiative, NLSIU alumnus Suhaan Mukerji, a practising advocate in the Supreme Court and a core team member of this initiative, said they were all “appalled at the condition of migrant workers since the lockdown”.

“We have been doing our bit through our alumni network for them, but when got to know of several migrants in great distress in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, we arranged a scheduled passenger flight from Mumbai for them. That flight got cancelled. Then we decided to go for crowdfunding and collected from our alumni around Rs 11 lakh. Then, we held talks with the Tata Group and arrange a special chartered AirAsia flight of 180 capacity to airlift as many migrant workers,” Mukerji said.
Another core team member who spoke to The Telegraph without coming on quote said they had considered buses for these migrants but decided against that “given the paperwork and technicalities involved in the process”.

“Apart from processing the paperwork, cross-border and interstate permits, we considered the high bus fares and the threat perspective (road accidents). Above all, we would have had no control on whether the bus actually reaches the destinations,” the alumna based in Mumbai said. “Then, we planned to arrange a commercial passenger scheduled flight to take 40 workers. However, given the restrictions imposed on the number of flights a day (25 flights), we arranged a dedicated chartered flight.”

One of the alumni members working with the Tata Group put the core team in touch with the AirAsia (a subsidiary of the Tata Group) management which agreed to lease an aircraft.
28/05/20 Animesh Bisoee & Achintya Ganguly/Telegraph

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Mumbai Police says only boarding pass is needed to reach airport

Mumbai: Since Sunday night, when the Maharashtra government allowed the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport to resume domestic air services, with a daily cap of 25 departures and arrivals each, several Mumbaikars have taken to social media or called police helplines, with the oft-repeated query -- "Do we need to get an e-pass for travel to or from the airport?" On Wednesday, the Mumbai Police clarified that air travellers moving to or from the Mumbai airport do not need to carry an e-pass, and a valid boarding pass for the journey would be sufficient.

The Mumbai Police tweeted, "All flight travellers moving to/from the Mumbai Airport can do so without an e-pass. Please carry a valid boarding pass for the journey and keep other details handy."

A senior Mumbai Police officer said, even if an e-pass is not required, passengers have to carry a valid boarding pass along with them during the journey, as well as valid identity proof which can be produced on demand during security checks on roads.

Pranaya Ashok, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), said that the same documents (soft copy) are to be carried by the person dropping or receiving the passenger to/from the airport. Even though the e-pass is not necessary, one should not exploit the situation and step out unnecessarily on the pretext of dropping a passenger, police officers said.

"While those providing travel assistance within the city to passengers should leave in good time, that does not mean they should leave as many as 5-6 hours prior to the departure of the flight. The travellers should anyway adhere to the social distancing norms and not break any rules. Apart from the driver, only two passengers will be allowed in a car," said the office.
28/05/20 Priyanka Navalkar/Free Press Journal

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Flight movement at airport increases

Pune: A total of 20 flight movements — inbound and outbound — were recorded at the city airport till 8.30pm on Wednesday — three more than that on entire Monday, the day the domestic plane services resumed after Covid-19 lockdown.
The number is expected to go up significantly because the city airport is known for heavy traffic of red-eye flights, which operate late in the night. On Tuesday, as many as 28 flight operations were recorded at the Lohegaon facility — almost double in comparison to Monday’s 17.
“There was no flight cancellation on Tuesday unlike Monday. Though the schedule isn’t final for Thursday, we are expecting an addition of some more flights,” an airport official said.

On Monday, a total of 1,657 flyers travelled to and from the airport and 2,153 on Tuesday. “Till 8.30pm on Wednesday, a total of 1,618 passengers have flown in and out of the airport. As many as 1,208 passengers flew out and 410 arrived,” the official added.

The city traffic police said over 60 private cab drivers had been given permission to ferry passengers from the airport.
“We have been running the ‘Dial an Autorickshaw’ service, which is concentrating on the airport rides. Around 60-70 cabs have been given permission to ply exclusively for passengers arriving at the airport. The passengers can book them on way home from the airport. These cabs are, however, not for passengers coming to the airport. Those coming to the airport can travel in their personal vehicles or autorickshaws,” Surendra Deshmukh, the assistant commissioner of police (traffic), told TOI.
28/05/20 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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Kolkata to rejoin national aviation map today with 10 flights

Kolkata: The city airport will take baby steps to join the domestic aviation map with 10 flights — four to Delhi, three to Mumbai and one each to Bengaluru, Chennai and Dibrugarh — on Thursday. The schedule though is valid only for Thursday with airlines proposing direct flights to other cities and towns on Friday.

Though Kolkata airport has operated 50 special flights and nearly 300 freighters since Cyclone Amphan last Wednesday, domestic operations has remained suspended since March 24. These will be the first set of commercial flights to and from the city in two months. Another 10 flights will operate from Bagdogra.

“Everyone — passengers, airlines and the airport operator — are looking forward to resumption of flights. We are starting with only 10 flights but we expect to soon ramp up and have a third of the pre-lockdown flights back in Kolkata,” said Kolkata airport director Kaushik Bhattacharjee.

While IndiGo, which used to operate 120 out of 240 flights from the city prior to the lockdown, will operate five flights on Thursday, SpiceJet will operate two flights and Air India, AirAsia India and Vistara will operate one each. The first arrival will be from Delhi at 6.50am and the first departure will also be to Delhi at 7.15am. The last arrival of the day is from Dibrugarh at 4.05pm and the final departure at 5.55pm for Mumbai. While Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai are obvious destinations that airlines would want to link, Dibrugarh is a surprise choice for a direct link with many expecting a connection to Guwahati, Hyderabad or even Bagdogra closer home.

With so few flights on offer, airlines are deploying the largest planes in their fleet to ensure they can carry the maximum number of passengers.

Vistara has deploeyed the Dreamliner Boeing B737 that has 299 seats while IndiGo and SpiceJet are deploying the Airbus A321 with 222 seats and Boeiong B 737-900 with 212 seats.
28/05/20 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India

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Kolkata-bound flyers keep fingers crossed

Kolkata: Salt Lake resident Abhishek Pal spent most of Wednesday checking and rechecking his flight ticket status and packing his bag with baby carriers, jumpsuits and sets of diapers. Once he reaches Delhi on Thursday, it will be the first time he will see his twins. The babies had been born out of surrogacy at a Delhi clinic and have been staying there ever since. He has return tickets for the next day.
“I have been dying to meet my kids since they were born on April 2. But because of the lockdown, I got stuck here. I have tried to book tickets every time the sales opened, but they kept getting cancelled. Once the sales restarted, I booked tickets at the first go and now I have my fingers crossed. I will head to Delhi, take my kids and come back home the next day,” said Pal, who runs a publishing house on College Street.
Pal is among thousands in the city who had been away from their family during the lockdown and will be able to meet them on Thursday once domestic flights resume.
The family of deceased businessman Mahesh Agarwal, owner of the Haldiram brand (Prateek), have tickets booked for a morning flight from Delhi. Meena and Avni, wife and daughter of the deceased, were stuck in Singapore for nearly two months after Agarwal died of a liver disease there on April 3. The two had a harrowing time running to and from the Indian embassy, filling out requests and requisitions to fly back to Delhi earlier this month. They got themselves quarantined for seven days there. “Finally we managed to get ourselves on to the morning flight to Kolkata and will take the 6.05am Spicejet plane from Delhi. We are mentally exhausted,” Avni said from Delhi.
Equally excited to head back home is electronic engineer Tapas Kundu who had gone to meet his wife at Tiruchirappalli on March 21. He had been stuck there since then. “I am thankful that my wife and son are here, but my other family members are in Kolkata. I am coming back with my entire family and my wife will then head to Odisha where her parents stay,” said Kundu.
There are also the likes of Garia resident Arindam Ganguly, whose tickets have got cancelled again and they have no clue when they can return. “This is the third time my ticket has been cancelled and the airline has put that on credit shell. I had booked a ticket from Bengaluru on May 21 and had been trying to web check-in only to get a text message this morning that my flight to Kolkata has been cancelled. This is ridiculous,” said Ganguly who works as a project lead in a dairy company.
28/05/20 Tamaghna Banerjee & Jhimil Mukherjee Pandey/Times of India

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Chennai airport to handle 42 flights on Wednesday; flights to connect city with Salem, Kadapa too

Chennai: Chennai airport will handle 21 departures and 21 arrivals on Wednesday. The flights include those to Mangalore, Kadapa and Salem.
As per the schedule released on Tuesday, an IndiGo flight to Delhi at 6.35am will be the first departure of on Thursday. The last flight of the day will be an Air India flight to Delhi at 9.30pm.
The first arrival for the day will be an AirAsia flight from Delhi at 8.15am, and the last arrival will be a SpiceJet flight from Delhi at 11.20pm.

IndiGo is operating 12 flights, SpirceJet four flights, Trujet two flights and Air Vistara, AirAsia and Air India are operating one flight each from Chennai.
The destinations are Delhi, Coimbatore, Madurai, Bengaluru, Salem, Kadapa, Port Blair, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Hyderabad.
26/05/20 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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85t int’l cargo lifted from Trichy in May

Trichy: Despite the lockdown, the cargo terminal continues to handle tonnes of perishables to Singapore. Spice Jet flight took off from Trichy airport to Singapore with 15 tonnes of vegetables, fruits, flowers and banana leaves late on Monday. With that, the terminal had handled 85 tonnes of international cargo in May.

Spice Xpress (Spice Jet) operated an all-cargo flight (Number SG-7190/7191 of B737/800) on Bangalore-Trichy–Singapore sector on Tuesday night. “The carrier was a passenger flight lifted the cargo in hatrack, cabin and also in its belly. The flight transported 12 export perishable cargo shipments consisting of vegetables, fruits, flowers and leaves in 1,762 packages, weighing 14.94 tonnes and one export shipment of general cargo (mask) in 10 packages weighing 264kg to Singapore,” a senior official at the airport said.
This was the fifth cargo flight operated by Spice Jet from Trichy during the Covid-19 lockdown period to Singapore. So far the carrier had lifted 72 tonnes of perishables to Singapore in May. This apart, IndiGo had lifted 10 tonnes of cargo from Trichy International Airport.
27/05/20 D Vincent Arockiaraj/Times of India

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Flights to Mizoram to start on Thursday

Aizwal: Flight services on the Kolkata-Aizawl-Imphal sector would resume on Thursday instead of Tuesday, following Bengal's decision to defer the operations owing to Cyclone Amphan.
Principal consultant of the state civil aviation wing, Joe Lalhmingliana, said he hoped the Bengal government would agree to allow Air India flights in the Kolkata-Aizawl-Imphal sector from Thursday.
27/05/20 Times of India

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Preparations in Full Swing as West Bengal to Resume Domestic Flight Operations From Tomorrow

New Delhi: Massive preparations and several arrangements are being done at the Kolkata and Bagdogra airports as the domestic flight operations are all set to resume from the state on Thursday (May 28).
Starting from May 28, the Kolkata and Bagdogra airports will each handle 10 arrivals and 10 departures per day.
Several arrangements, including preparations for social distancing norms, being done at Bagdogra Airport as domestic flights will resume operations in the state amid COVID-19 lockdown. Also Read - Domestic Flights to Andhra Pradesh From Today, West Bengal Issues Guideline as Flights to Start From May 28
“We are resuming flight operations from tomorrow with 10 flights per day. We’ve done markings for ensuring social distancing among passengers and staff. We have installed automatic electronic devices for scanning and screening; every process is touch-free,” Subramani P, Director, Bagdogra Airport, said.
27/05/20 India.com

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Visakhapatnam: APATA members meet airport director

Visakhapatnam: The airport advisory board along with Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers' Association (APATA) president Kumar Raja and members D S Varma and O Naresh Kumar met the airport director M Raja Kishore and discussed about the current situation at the airport and various screening measures that are in place at the premises. The Airport Director informed the APATA members that there were five flights landed in Vizag and five took off to various destinations, including Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, and Bengaluru
The members of APATA also met chief security officer Venugopal. Keeping the rainy season in view, the APATA members requested Raja Kishore to ready the front canopy for which the latter assured to ready it by mid-June. Later, APATA members also requested for Covid testing in airport be expedited so that ICMR-approved labs also are permitted to do the testing so that those with negative results get exempted from being quarantined.
27/05/20 Hans India

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Chennai Airport Director Suneel Dutt speaks on preparations for resuming operations

After the mandate for resuming domestic flight operations from 25th of May 2020 by the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), the airports have now started preparing for the flights and people that will be travelling whilst maintaining social distance.

Chennai Airport Director Suneel Dutt speaks on their preparedness of the airport and the staff to maintain all guidelines given by the government to curtail the spread of Coronavirus. He talks about the new travel protocols like thermal screening, regular disinfection to stop the spread and make it safer for travellers.

Tamil Nadu government has decided that only 25 inbound flights will be allowed in the state daily. He speaks about the government's decision.
26/05/20 TimesNowNews.com

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Kolkata airport to restart operation tomorrow with ten flights

Kolkata: Ten flights will take off from Kolkata and the same number will operate at the Bagdogra airport near Siliguri on Thursday as Bengal gets reconnected to the domestic aviation grid after a two months. Domestic flights in other parts of the country started services on Monday.

The decision to restrict the flight count at Kolkata airport to 10 only follows a state government request to keep the number to the barest minimum, citing its immediate task of dealing with the post-Amphan crisis. Before international and domestic flights were suspended in March, Kolkata airport handled around 240 flights daily.

Regulator DGCA had initially asked airlines to start with one-third of the pre-Covid-19 capacity on the domestic sector. Around 80 flights were supposed to operate from Kolkata and cash-starved airlines were quick to start bookings. But with Cyclone Amphan wreaking largescale destruction in Kolkata and its suburbs, the state government sought to postpone the resumption of domestic flight operations and also requested for a reduced service count, citing stressed resources in dealing with multiple crises.

Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad have also put a cap on the number of flights. While Chennai has limited the number to 20 a day, Mumbai has capped it at 50.

The severely truncated schedule is likely to inconvenience passengers majorly as many flights that had previously been opened for booking will have to be cancelled. Confusion reigned till late on Tuesday, with airlines unable to reschedule flights or announce cancellations. Sources said IndiGo was likely to operate five flights, SpiceJet two and Air India, Air Asia and Vistara one each. “We will get to know about who will operate how many flights and to which destination only on Wednesday,” an airline official said, fearing confusion among flyers who may arrive at the airport to discover there was no flight.
27/05/20 Times of India

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Confusion still prevails, 357 passengers arrive in Chandigarh

Chandigarh: Confusion prevailed on day two at the Chandigarh International Airport in Mohali after Chandigarh-Mumbai flight got cancelled. A total of 357 domestic passengers arrived at the airport on different flights and 257 passengers departed from the airport till 6 pm.
A statement issued by the airport said that “IndiGo flight from Mumbai was cancelled due to operational reasons, as intimated by the airline”.

Residents have been facing problems due to the confusion. Even on Monday, the first flight that came after two months, passengers remained in uncertainty as they received message of cancellation at 11.30 pm and then confirmation in the early hours. The flight had then taken off. But the same got cancelled on Tuesday.

Amit Sud, a Chandigarh resident, said there is a lot of uncertainty. “I was supposed to travel on May 29 to Mumbai and my office planned to book the flight accordingly. However, the travel agent advised them that due to uncertainty, we should wait for further clarification from the government,” he said.

He added, “Since the direct flight is not operational and due to the prevailing confusion, this morning I was advised to think of the possibility to fly out from Delhi.”
On Tuesday, as many as 64 passengers arrived on the IndiGo’s Delhi flight and 98 of them departed. On the IndiGo’s Bangalore flight, 100 passengers arrived and 30 departed. On Air India’s Delhi flight,,78 passengers arrived and 91 departed.

On Air Asia’s Bangalore flight, 108 passengers arrived and 22 departed.
27/05/20 Hina Rohtaki/IndianExpress

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Pune airport handles 27 flights on day three of resumption

Pune: Over 660 passengers arrived at the Pune international airport in 14 flights on Wednesday, the third day of the resumption of air services, an official said. As many as 1,364 passengers departed in 13 flights from the airport, the official said.
 "Total 27 flights were operated by the Airports Authority in Pune. While 14 of them arrived at the airport, 13 others took off. The number of passengers who arrived at the airport on Wednesday was 663, while 1,364 others departed," he said.
 Domestic flight operations, which had been suspended for two months due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, resumed on Monday.On Monday, 672 passengers landed at the Pune airport in nine flights and 985 others took off in eight flights, while on Tuesday, 23 flights were operated.
Total 558 passengers had arrived in 12 flights and 1,200 passengers took off in 11 flights, the official said.
 27/05/20 PTI/Business Insider

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Air India to resume flight operations from Aizawl airport from Thursday

Aizwal: National carrier Air India would resume operation on the Kolkata-Imphal-Aizawl route from Thursday.
State principal consultant for civil aviation, Wing Commander J. Lalhmingliana said that Air India would operate Airbus 319 on the Kolkata-Imphal-Aizawl sector thrice a week- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday starting from Thursday.
Though the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation announced the resumption of domestic flights in a calibrated manner from May 25, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee did not allow operation of any domestic flights between May 25 and 27 from Kolkata airport as it has been hit by cyclone Amphan, he said.
“Among the three airlines, only Air India will resume operation on Kolkata-Imphal-Aizawl route from May 28,” Lalhmingliana said.
He said that no outsiders, barring those who obtained special permission from the state home department, will be allowed to enter Mizoram by flights as the state government has temporarily suspended issuance of Inner Line Permit (ILP) on arrival at the Lengpui airport.

According to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the state government, any stranded state residents intending to return by flight, will have to obtain movement permit from the state government before their arrival at Lengpui airport, he said.
He said that another two airlines –GoAir and IndiGo were yet to intimate their schedule for recommencement of flight service from Aizawl.
26/05/20 North East Now

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Flight to Ahmedabad all set to resume today

Nashik: Private airline operator Trujet has got an approval from the state government to start its flight services from Nashik-Ahmedabad from Wednesday, said Trujet officials.
The airline will be operating the flight with 50% occupancy as per the new guidelines issued by the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The Nashik-Ahmedabad flight will be operated four days in a week i.e Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. The 72-seater flight will take off from Ahmedabad at 6.40 pm and arrive at Ozar airport near Nashik city at 7.55 pm. The aircraft will depart from the Ozar airport at 8.30 pm and land at Ahmedabad at 9.45 pm.
"We have got approval from the state government. We will start the Nashik-Ahmedabad flight from tomorrow," said a Trujet official.
Apart from this, Trujet is also planning to start Jalgaon-Ahmedabad flight three days a week from June 1. The flight will be operational on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
27/05/20 Tushar Pawar/Times of India

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Only two flights, handful of passengers on second day of operations at MIA

Mangaluru: On Tuesday, the second day of resumption of flight operations which were suspended due to coronavirus scare, two flights were operated from the airport here as in the first day.
SpiceJet flight from Bengaluru which arrived at 10 am on Tuesday brought only four passengers. Over 12 passengers left for Bengaluru in that flight. The IndiGo flight which arrived at 6.30 pm had 15 passengers. Among them, four passengers who came from high-risk states were sent to institutional quarantine. The other passengers will be under home quarantine. When the aircraft returned, 25 took that flight.
On Wednesday again, SpiceJet and IndiGo will operate flights from Bengaluru to here. There is a likelihood of an IndiGo flight from Chennai arriving here at 7.30 pm and leaving at 8 pm. A final decision about operating flights to Mumbai has not yet been taken, sources stated.
27/05/20 daijiworld

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Patna Airport Opens for Business After Two Months

Patna: Sixty-three days after the last flight took off or landed at the Patna Airport, the first plane, following some relaxation in Coronavirus lockdown rules a few days ago, landed at the Jaya Prakash International Airport in the state capital at 7:40 am carrying 166 passengers from New Delhi.
Soon flights carrying stranded Biharis in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Amritsar also arrived at the Patna Airport bringing a total of 1581 passengers on Monday as eleven flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Amritsar took off carrying a total of 892 passengers.
The last plane to depart Patna Airport was an Indigo flight carrying 68 passengers to Mumbai.
Meanwhile, the administration had made elaborate arrangement to keep the airport clean with strict enforcement of social distancing between the passengers forming line to check in or check out of the airport. All the passengers and their belongings were subjected to thermal screening and sanitization before being allowed inside the building.
Among the flights arriving at the Patna Airport on Monday were a single flight of Air India, five flights of Spice Jet and five flights of Indigo Airlines.
27/05/20 Patna Daily

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247 reach, 113 fly out of city on Day 2

Nagpur: On Tuesday the second day of commercial operations resuming at the Nagpur airport the number of flights landing at the city came down to two, as against four on Monday.
The airport director Abid Ruhi said 247 passengers reached Nagpur and 113 flew out. The two flights of Indigo Airlines which came down from Mumbai and Delhi and flew back to the same destination.

As per the new schedule effective till May 31, four flights will operate from the Nagpur airport. These are two to Delhi and one each for Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Ruhi said however, it is expected that a flight to Kolkata and Ahmedabad may start in a day or two. The airlines have approached the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA). The final decision will depend on DGCA approval, availability of slot and also the other state’s approval to allow flights from there.
27/05/20 Shishir Arya/Times of India

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Incoming flyers more than outgoing at Patna airport

Patna: The number of flyers arriving at the Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport in Patna was almost double than those leaving the city for other destinations on the second day of resumption of domestic flight operations on Tuesday. The airport handled 10 pairs of flights during the day.

According to Patna airport director Bhupesh C H Negi, altogether 1,491 passengers arrived at the airport and 584 flew out of the city on Tuesday. "The airlines staff and security personnel handled passengers keeping social distancing in mind," he said.

Of the 11 scheduled flights on Tuesday, one was cancelled. Airport's assistant general manager (air traffic management) Santosh Kumar said SpiceJet operated four flights instead of five. "Bengaluru-Patna flight (SG-768) of SpiceJet was cancelled," he added.

One Ajit Saxena, who reached Patna from Delhi, said he felt relieved after meeting his family members outside the airport.

"I have returned to the city after two months due to the Covid-19 lockdown," Saxena, who had gone to New Delhi for business work before the announcement of lockdown, told this newspaper.
27/05/20 Faryal Rumi/Times of India

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CISF reports 20 new cases in 24 hours from Delhi airport

New Delhi: The Central Industrial Security Force on Tuesday reported 20 fresh coronavirus cases, with 18 from its unit that guards the Delhi airport, officials said. The over 1.62 lakh personnel strong force has a total of 78 active COVID-19 cases, while 132 personnel have recovered from the disease till now.
According to official data, the force reported 20 fresh cases since Monday, with 18 from its unit that guards the Indira Gandhi International Airport, while one case each was detected from its NTPC Koldam unit in Himachal Pradesh and from the Punjab and Haryana secretariat in Chandigarh.
According to official data, the force reported 20 fresh cases since Monday, with 18 from its unit that guards the Indira Gandhi International Airport, while one case each was detected from its NTPC Koldam unit in Himachal Pradesh and from the Punjab and Haryana secretariat in Chandigarh.
"All the 18 personnel detected positive from the Delhi airport unit were already under quarantine as part of contact tracing of other infected personnel. They were not on duty," a senior CISF officer said.
"Now that their test reports have come, the personnel have been shifted for medical isolation," the officer said.
A total of 25 personnel from this Delhi airport guarding unit are under treatment at present.
The Delhi airport CISF unit has been continuously working to facilitate passengers boarding or de-boarding special rescue flights from or to India during the lockdown period and the unit is now securing the IGI after a limited number of regular commercial flights began from Monday.
26/05/20 PTI/OneIndia

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400-bed quarantine centre set up at Calcutta airport

Calcutta: Aportion of the city airport’s old domestic terminal has been converted into a Covid-19 quarantine centre with around 400 beds.
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The beds have been placed in the erstwhile arrival area on the ground floor of the building.

“The state government had requested for space to set up a quarantine centre. We are in the process of handing over the facility (to the state government),” said airport director Kaushik Bhattacharya.

The state government has set up 582 quarantine centres across Bengal. More than 18,000 people are now quarantined at these centres, health department officials said.

The quarantine facility at the airport will be run for two months and the period could be extended if necessary, a state government official said.

Several international flights are set to land in Calcutta in the next phase of the project to bring back Indians stuck abroad because of the lockdown forced by the novel coronavirus.

On Wednesday, a flight carrying more than 100 passengers is scheduled to arrive in Calcutta under the Vande Bharat mission.

One flight each from Yangon and Colombo are also scheduled to arrive, along with one from Dhaka, later.

All international passengers arriving in India need to undergo mandatory institutional quarantine for 14 days, according to a guideline issued by the ministry of health and family welfare.

The international passengers can stay in a paid quarantine facility for seven days at their cost and the next seven days in home quarantine.

“However, there could be people like workers coming from other countries who might not be able to afford paid quarantine. So, we are setting up this facility where those who don’t want to pay can stay,” said a state health department official.

The airport’s domestic flight services will resume on Thursday with 10 flights arriving and a similar number departing.

But those arriving on domestic flights need not be quarantined.

The state health department’s guidelines say those with mild symptoms can either go to a medical centre or stay in home quarantine under medical supervision. They have to undergo swab tests for Covid-19. Those with moderate and severe symptoms will be taken to a designated Covid hospital.
The old terminal building will demolished as part of an expansion plan of the airport.
26/05/20 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph 

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Cancellations continue, passenger flights resume in Andhra Pradesh

New Delhi: A day after the restart of air travel across India, flight cancellations continued with passengers facing difficulties, even as domestic operations resumed in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday amid reluctance due to rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Except West Bengal, domestic flights traversed the entire country on Tuesday. However, as major airports like Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad have a severe cap on the number of fights they can handle, cancellations continued on Tuesday.

Just like Monday, a section of passengers reached their airports on Tuesday only to be informed that their flights have been cancelled. Many people vented their ire on social media.

Chennai airport is scheduled to handle only 20 arrivals and departures each on Tuesday, said senior government officials, even though Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday night said that it can handle up to 25 arrivals per day and has no limit on the number of departures.
Even in Andhra Pradesh, where domestic services resumed on Tuesday, Vijayawada and Vizag airports will handle just eight flights each during the day, officials said.

On Sunday night, the central government had said these two airports can handle up to 20 per cent of the pre-lockdown flights from Tuesday onwards.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, which is India's largest, is scheduled to handle around 277 flights on Tuesday, the officials said.
On May 23, the government officials had said they expected Delhi airport to handle around 380 flights per day from May 25 onwards.
Mumbai airport, India's second busiest airport, handled just 47 flights on Monday and is expected to handle a similar number on Tuesday.
On Sunday night, the central government said it will handle a maximum of 50 flights per day from Monday.
26/05/20 PTI/Economic Times

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Passengers hit air pocket as AI scraps Hyderabad flight

Bengaluru: Several flights out of Kempegowda International Airport were cancelled on Monday, but passengers of an Air India flight to Hyderabad were upset as they learned of the cancellation of their flight only after they reached the airport.

It was sheer chaos with a group of people shouting at an airline executive for failing to inform passengers about the cancellation. The flight was to take off at 8am.Ranganadh Kotta, a software engineer, said, “I spent Rs 1,500 on a taxi to reach here from Bellandur. Now we will spend a similar sum to get back home. I am demanding that Air India at least reimburse my return fare for my cab.”
Preksha Dokar, a researcher, said that all that was needed was one SMS alert. “After reaching here, we looked at the board and found out that the flight was not running,”Preksha added.The AI executive assured the passengers that fares would be refunded within 48 hours.

Dr Sreedevi C and her friend Dr Vijayanthi were upset as they are about to start their postgraduate course in radiology at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences. “We need to report for the start of the PG program by tomorrow. That is why we booked our flight ticket today. We reached the airport at 5.30am for the flight. We are shocked to know that it is cancelled,” she said.

They ran back and forth between counters to check for other flights to Hyderabad. “It is a question of our future. Even if they had informed us through SMS or email, we would have at least booked tickets on another airline. Now, we just have to go back home,” she said.Air India was unavailable for comment.
26/05/20 S Lalitha/New Indian Express

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When social distancing went for a toss at RGIA

Hyderabad: The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) was a visual of chaos on Monday as rules and regulations of social distancing went for a toss when flights started getting cancelled and confused passengers panicked for information and help. While the people who had early morning flights had a smooth experience at the airport, as the day progressed, crowds increased and passengers complained about how the no-contact regulation was broken multiple times with boarding passes and tickets handed over to passengers by airline officials. 
Speaking to Express, Sayantan, a techie who was supposed to travel to Kolkata, said, “When I arrived at the airport, and even during the early morning hours, there was no crowd, and social distancing was being followed to the T. Our temperatures were checked with contactless thermal scanners and our IDs were checked remotely. We were asked to be seated in the lounge post the health check-up. A few hours later, we were informed that our flight has been cancelled.”
However, Saiju Gangadaram, travelling to Bengaluru, during an afternoon flight, shared a video of an absolute chaos during the boarding near the aerobridge. Passengers can be seen crowding together near the aerobridge leading to the aircraft. Many were spotted walking around in groups instead of being seated on the chairs marked away from each other. He wrote on Twitter, “What is the use of all the pain taken by citizens? What is the use of the Aarogya Setu app (sic)?” 
Another passenger, Gourav Goel, who was at the RGIA at around 5.00 pm, shared a picture of passengers crowding around Air India officials to collect a piece of paper being distributed. Gourav took to Twitter to explain what was happening: “Airindia announcing names and distributing Boarding Passes violating guidelines for operation during covid. Clearly not prepared for operation. #airindia #resumedomesticflights #rgia (sic).”
26/05/20 New Indian Express

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Domestic flights resume from Vizag, Vijayawada airports

Visakhapatnam/Vijayawada: Domestic flights resumed from Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada airports in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, a day after Indian skies opened up for domestic passenger services after a gap of two months due to coronavirus-induced lockdown.

IndiGo flight from Bengaluru was the first to land at Visakhapatnam Airport at 6.55 a.m. with 146 passengers.

As per the guidelines issued by the Andhra Pradesh government, passengers who arrived by this flight were taken to the quarantine centre for collecting swab samples from where they will be sent to home quarantine for 14 days. Officials say if the swab comes positive they will be put in Covid care centre or continue in home quarantine or sent to hospital for treatment as the case may be.

The flight departed for Bengaluru at 7.35 a.m.

The airport reopened for domestic operations with new arrangements in view of the Covid-19 situation. These include contactless operations, thermal scanning of passengers, social distancing and sanitisation of luggage.

Besides two flights from and to Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam Airport will also handle flights from and to Delhi and Hyderabad.

The airport authorities have requested passengers to reach the airport at least two-and-half hours prior to the scheduled departures.

Passengers leaving for Bengaluru said they had to do web check-in. They were also asked to fill a self declaration form, giving details of their health status.

The passengers were given gloves and hand sanitizers and were asked to maintain social distancing. A woman passenger said she had booked the flight for Monday but it was cancelled. "I booked the ticket for Tuesday and last night I received the message that this flight too was cancelled but was later informed that the flight will depart as scheduled," she said.

SpiceJet flight from Bengaluru was the first to land at Vijayawada airport at 6.55 a.m. with 79 passengers. "This was the domestic flight to land at the airport post lockdown," Airport director G. Madhusudhana Rao said.

The flight later departed to Bengaluru with 68 passengers.

The second flight to land in Vijayawada was also from Bengaluru. IndiGo flight arrived at 8.20 a.m. with 48 passengers. "Disinfectation carried out in between flight to flight gaps. The flight departed back to Bengaluru with 50 passengers," said Rao.

Vijayawada Airport officials said they have four confirmed arrivals and departures to Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi by SpiceJet, IndiGo and Air India with nearly 600 in and outbound passengers.

The flights from Andhra Pradesh could not resume on Monday due to the delay in issuing the guidelines for domestic flight services.
26/05/20 IANS/Outlook

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Chaos at Shamshabad: Flight cancelled and your money gone into credit shell

Hyderabad: Even as domestic air services resumed nationwide, chaos and frustration ruled at the Shamshabad airport here due to several cancellations. According to the RGIA website, seven arriving and 31 departing flights were cancelled on Monday.

This was largely to hard-nosed negotiations earlier on Sunday night between the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and the government of Telangana with the state reportedly insisting it was not in a position to handle more than 20 arrivals and 19 departures a day for now.
As per the original schedule, at least double this number of flights were to operate every day from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad.

The last-minute change of plans resulted in several airlines contacting their passengers and informing them of cancelled flights.

Every arrival and departing flight gets a slot at an airport and this requires coordination between different agencies and the airlines. This work went on well into the night to rearrange the flight schedules, it was learnt.

Among the many passengers whose travel plans were thrown awry was Anita Dalal, a passenger scheduled to travel from Kolhapur to Mumbai via Hyderabad on Monday. She was stuck in the chaos after her confirmed Indigo flight was cancelled at the last minute.
“I received a message at 1 am on May 25 that my flight scheduled at 2 pm was cancelled due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. I have been stranded in Kolhapur since the lockdown began two months ago. There have been no other means of transport in Maharashtra, so I finally booked a connecting flight to Mumbai via Hyderabad and it got cancelled too,” she said.

She said officials had provided no clarification yet. “As for the refund, I have been told that money in the form of a credit shell available for other flight options for a year will be given. Who is going to travel in these conditions now? I don’t want to waste that money. I’d rather get that money back, so I can try to hire a car to travel home now,” she said.
26/05/20 Harleen Minocha/Deccan Chronicle

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Flight operations resume from Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: Queue up with social distancing, get your bag sanitized, get yourself screened, collect your kits, put on your masks and face shields, and show your ID and boarding pass and enter the airport terminal building.
Drop your baggage and move, following toe marks, maintaining due social distancing as you pass through security checkpoints, leave an empty chair as you wait for your flight in the security hold area.
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With such a new normal, commercial flight operations finally resumed after a gap of 60 days at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad on Monday.

Flight operations were suspended across India in the end of March to curb the spread of coronavirus outbreak.

The airport finally witnessed passenger movement at the airport after remaining almost shut except for operating charters, air ambulances, cargo and special flights for expats during the lockdown. An estimated eighty flights including some 40 incoming and 40 outgoing flights operated from the city airport. This is less than one-third of the total flight movements handled at the SVPI airport conventionally.

Sources confirmed that most passengers included travellers who were either stranded here or had to visit their families at their hometowns. Flight operations resumed to Mumbai, Delhi, Indore, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, among others.

Speaking about his experience, Aniruddha Panicker, a passenger who landed at the city airport around noon, said, “The flight from Delhi refused to depart as there were only five passengers aboard. We didn’t have a choice but to book another flight on the spot to get to Ahmedabad. Thankfully, we boarded the flight in time. However, it was weird as the aircraft had barely eight passengers travelling to Ahmedabad.”
26/05/20 Times of India

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Ola begins airport operations in 22 cities as air travel resumes

Mumbai: Ola has resumed its airport operations across 22 Indian cities as domestic air travel slowly resumes across the country.

Domestic air travel in India began from Monday with certain precautions amid relaxed restrictions within lockdown 4.0. The cab-hailing company has thus begun operating cabs to and from airports “with enhanced safety protocols.”

“Ola will place specially trained staff to perform car fumigation, temperature checks for driver-partners, and a car audit before every pick-up so customers can have peace of mind before they step into the car. Across all other cities, Ola will be regularly sanitising cars and monitoring the driver’s health status as part of its ‘10 steps to a safer ride’ initiative,” the company said.

The company has issued five precautions for driver-partners and five precautions for customers as par rt of its 10-step initiative.

The driver-partners are prohibited from operation in containment zones. The drivers are also required to wear masks and will need to authenticate this before the start of every ride by sharing a selfie through the driver-partner app. The vehicles will also be equipped with necessary essentials including hygiene kit.

Apart from this, the cab service has also enabled flexible cancellations for driver-partners and customers who have been given the option of cancelling the ride if the other is not wearing a mask.

As for the customers, the steps including using the service for not more than two people at a time. The air conditioning in the car will remain switched off. Furthermore, the customers will have to load and unload their luggage from the cab by themselves and will have to maintain certain social distancing guidelines.
26/05/20 Business Line

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Mumbai airport continues to have curtailed operations on Day 2

Mumbai: AAI-GVK group-run Mumbai airport continued to have curtailed operations for the second day on Tuesday with a total of 22 departures and 19 arrivals along with three cancellations.
The Mumbai International Airport Ltd while announcing resumption of domestic passenger services from May 25 had said on Sunday that it would be operating a total of 50 flights to begin with, including 25 departures and equal number of arrivals.

Budget carrier IndiGo had both first departures and arrivals from Mumbai airport on day two as well, the MIAL said in a statement.

"The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) saw on Tuesday 22 departure, 19 arrivals and thee cancelations, carrying a total of 4,224 passengers -- 3,114 departing ones and rest 1,110 arriving passengers," MIAL said in a statement.

As many as six airlines operated these flights to 13 various destinations, it said.

IndiGo''s flight to Ranchi was the first one to depart at 6.30 am from Mumbai airport while its flight from Lucknow was the first aircraft to arrive at 8.20 am on may 26, said the airport operator.

The highest passenger load capacity was seen on the Delhi route departing out of Mumbai airport, MIAL added.

The Mumbai airport had operated 47 flights to 14 destinations on Monday, when Indian airlines resumed commercial passenger services after two months of COVID-19 lockdown.
26/05/20 PTI/Outlook

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Around 1,600 fly into Hyderabad as flights resume

Around 1,600 people came into Telangana from various parts of the country on Monday, the first day of the commencement of commercial flights after the two-month lockdown. However, close to 45 flights that were scheduled to leave from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) were cancelled, mostly to states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.

In addition to that, many passengers had to leave close to six-seven hours before their flight timings as many did not find cabs or other modes of transport during the curfew hours. Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar visited the RGIA on Monday morning to take stock of the situation, and said, “We have taken care of every aspect to safeguard the health of passengers. Close to 1,600 people have come into Telangana today via flights. Over 38 flights landed in Telangana and taken off to various parts of the country. We have made sure that Arogya Setu app is a must for every passenger travelling via RGIA.”

The Chief Secretary further added that none of the passengers who entered and exited the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport had any symptoms of Covid-19. According to a GMR RGIA spokesperson, the airport handle 20 departures and 19 arrivals on Monday with an approximate passenger load of 3,000. “TruJet’s 2T 623 was the first flight to depart on May 25. It took off from here at 8.06 am with 12 passengers on board to Vidyanagar in Karnataka. AirAsia India I5 1576 was the first flight to arrive. It landed at 8.20 am on Monday from Bengaluru with 106 passengers bound for Hyderabad.”

The flights to West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh were cancelled, as Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, tweeted on Sunday, “It has been a long day of hard negotiations with various stated to recommence civil aviation operations in the country. Except Andhra Pradesh which will start on 26/5 & West Bengal on 28/5, domestic flights will recommence across the country from tomorrow (sic).”
Speaking to Express, Sayantan, a techie returning to Kolkata from Hyderabad, said, “We reached the airport almost 12 hours earlier on May 24, by 7 pm. Our flight was at 6  am on May 25.”
26/05/20 Oishani Mojumder/New Indian Express

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Domestic flight operations resume; Nagpur airport handles four flights

As a major relief on the movement of people in the country, Air India and Indigo airlines have resumed domestic flight operations on May 25 from the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur after a gap of two months due to COVID-19 pandemic. Air India and Indigo operated a total four flights from Nagpur airport. Accordingly, there was one flight by Air India on the Nagpur-Delhi route. Similarly, Indigo flew one flight each on the Nagpur-Delhi, Nagpur-Mumbai and Nagpur-Bengaluru routes. Furthermore, Indigo cancelled the 6.30 pm flight on the Nagpur-Mumbai route, sources said. On the first day of restarting domestic flights, a total 596 passengers were handled at the Nagpur airport.
In all 375 passengers arrived and 221 passenger departed from the airport, said a senior airport official. He further said that the passenger traffic was normal as each plane has capacity of carrying 135 to 180 passengers. The airport staff made good arrangements for all the inbound and outbound passengers at the airport and followed the safety guidelines. All the passengers maintained social distancing norms and arrived with face masks and stood in queues as their luggage bags were sprayed with disinfectants as their turn came for entering the airport. The airport staff conducted thermal screening on the passengers before boarding. The passengers had to show Aarogya Setu status to airport staff before boarding the plane. There was only web check in at the airport.

The passengers had to collect safety kit and sanitiser near the boarding gate. The airlines provided an extra face shield to all the passengers boarding the airplanes. Also, the flight attendants wore personal protective equipment as a measure of safety. Apart from this, all the passengers that arrived at Nagpur Airport were given home quarantine stamp on their arms by the airport staff, sources said.
26/05/20 Hitavada

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Vadodara airport starts partial flight operations

Vadodara: Even as Vadodara airport resumed operations on Monday, the first flight to land at the airport from Mumbai got cancelled. However, three others from and to Delhi and Bengaluru were on schedule.
Indigo airlines cancelled the flight between Vadodara and Mumbai for two days, including Monday and Tuesday, citing “operational reasons”. The flight was scheduled to arrive at Vadodara airport at 4.40 pm and depart for Mumbai at 5.20 pm. However, early cancellation saved passengers of airpor thassles.
Sources said the flight was cancelled as Maharashtra government on Sunday announced that only 25 flights will be operated in and out of Mumbai airport.
“The journey was very good,” said Pooja Patel, who landed in Vadodara from Delhi through an Indigo flight later in the day, but also appealed people to fly only if there is an emergency. “Some co-passengers carrying infants had to face a lot of difficulties managing luggage and infants in absence of trolleys,” she said.
Siddharth Chatterjee, working in an MNC at Noida, flew in to stay with his parents in Vadodara. “Since the company has allowed work from home, I will be staying with my parents,” he said adding that both airports took adequate precaution for safety of all the passengers.
26/05/20 Times of India

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3 flights land at Dabolim with 95 passengers on Day 1

Domestic flights resumed after two months at the Dabolim airport on Monday. However, due to lack of response from the passengers, the airport handled only three flights, much less than the expected 15, on Day 1 after the Centre announced restart of the operations.

According to airport director Gagan Malik, a total number of 95 passengers arrived in Goa, while 229 passengers departed from Dabolim.

Malik said Indigo Airlines operated two flights to Goa from Bengaluru and Delhi. “These flights together handled 255 passengers – 63 arrived in the state, while 192 departed for their destinations,” he said. The AirAsia flight, which came from Bengaluru, brought in 32 passengers to Goa, while on its return journey, it flew with 37 passengers.

“We expected 15 flights to operate from the Dabolim airport on the first day but due to various reasons among which one could be the NOTAM restrictions at the Mumbai airport, no flights were operated from Mumbai to Goa,” said Malik. He said some flights that had planned their schedule to operate at the Dabolim airport were cancelled at the last moment, possibly due to insufficient passengers. Most of the flights were supposed to arrive in Goa from Mumbai, Malik said.

Stating that major airports in the country operated with a limited number of flights on Monday, Malik said till May 30, no flights from Mumbai may arrive. “As the air transport came to a grinding halt for the last around two months due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the airlines could take some more time to resume operations on all routes,” said the airport director.
26/05/20 Navhind Times

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Planes take off post two-month hiatus in Vijaywada

Vijayawada, in Andhra Pradesh, received its first flight on Tuesday post Corona lockdown. Earlier, the state government had been reluctant to resume flights in view of Covid19 cases rising every day. The first flight to Vijayawada landed from Bengaluru at 6.55 am, carrying 79 passengers. The Spicejet flight returned to Bengaluru with 68 passengers, officials said. The Union government on Sunday announced that Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal would not handle domestic flights. However, in what appears to be a change of heart, the state allowed flights. At Andhra’s other airport in Vizag, the first flight landed this morning at 7 am.

The Civil aviation ministry ordered that flights be resumed across India from May 25. Initially, even Maharashtra said it would not allow domestic flights given the Covid density in the city opf Mumbai. However, Monday witnessed reduced flights being handled at airports in Mumbai. A similar trend is being observed in Chennai and Hyderabad.
Suspended for over two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, domestic flights resumed in India on Monday with 532 flights. These flights carried 39,231 passengers to their respective destinations. However, there were around 630 flights cancellations as well.

The central government’s decision to resume flights has led to various state governments announcing state specific guidelines on quarantine of passengers landing in their city. The quarantine period varies from one week to two weeks with provision also for paid quarantine in some states. A distinction has been made by some states in business travelers and non- business travelers.
26/05/20 Financial Express

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Jharkhand decides against institutional quarantine for air passengers from red zones

Ranchi: The Jharkhand government on Monday sent 450-odd passengers, who flew down to Ranchi from three cities to 14 days of home quarantine, a decision that seems to be in conflict with a Union home ministry directive mandating a week of institutional quarantine for all travellers coming from high Covid-19 prevalence states.

State health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni clarified that Jharkhand was following latest civil aviation ministry guidelines.

"We are now following the fresh guidelines issued by the civil aviation ministry. The ministry has allowed destination states to decide the health protocol for travellers," he said.

Passengers from Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad arrived at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport through the day on Monday when passenger flight services resumed in India after a lull of two months, airport officials said.

None of them were sent to institutional quarantine, the officials said.

According to airport officials, a majority of the passengers who landed in Ranchi airport on Monday came from New Delhi – a city that is among the worst-affected COVID-19 regions of the country.

"Two flights from New Delhi landed in Ranchi today (Monday). Besides, one flight each from Bangalore and Hyderabad landed here," said airport director Vinod Sharma. "All passengers were screened at the airport," he added.

Ranchi sub-divisional officer (SDO) Lokesh Mishra said the passengers were asked to stay quarantined at home for 14 days. "We screened all the passengers, and put them in home quarantine," Mishra said.

Ranchi dropped it's Covid-19 red zone tag last week. It is now an orange zone with only 13 active cases. However, health department sources admitted that the present transmission rate can increase if passengers defy home quarantine.

Institutional quarantine, on the other hand, may reduce the chances of further transmission by imposing stricter restrictions, they added.
25/05/20 Telegraph

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Pune: More number of people fly out than inbound passengers

Pune: The Pune international airport in Maharashtra has handled the arrival and departure of 14 flights by Tuesday afternoon on the second day of the resumption of the air services, an official said. " A total of 14 flights were operated by the airport authorities on Tuesday including seven arrivals and as many departures. A total of 338 passengers have arrived and 781 others have taken off," he said.
On Monday, 672 passengers landed at the airport in nine flights and 985 others took off in eight flights. Advertisement
He said details like the places of the origin of the flights and the destination cities will be made available later.
With services of app-based cab aggregators not available as Pune falls in the COVID red zone, the passengers have been instructed to travel to and from the airport either in their own vehicles or use dial a rickshaw facility, he said.
26/05/20 PTI/Business Insider

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Jammu airport sees 351 passengers in five flights

Jammu: Amid lockdown in the country, 351 passengers travelled to and from the Jammu airport in five flights today as the airport resumes operations after two months.
Out of total eight flights scheduled from the Jammu airport on Monday, three were cancelled by the airlines from their origin airports and rest five operated with limited passengers on board.

Operations started at 8.40 am with the arrival of Air India flight from Delhi, in which 24 passengers came, following four more flights — SpiceJet from Delhi, SpiceJet from Srinagar, Air India from Srinagar and Indigo from Delhi — in which total 171 passengers arrived in Jammu.

All the passengers were sampled for Covid-19 and later sent to quarantine centres by the UT administration.

180 passengers have also travelled to Srinagar and Delhi from Jammu in the same aircraft.

“The operations were conducted in safe and secure atmosphere. All the SOPs were properly followed and proper sanitisation of passengers and baggage was done,” said Pravat Ranjan Beuria, Director, Airport, Jammu.
25/05/20 Amit Khajuria/Tribune

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