Guwahati: The provision to send air passengers directly to home quarantine in Assam, if found negative in rapid antigen test after air travel, has yielded encouraging response for the aviation sector in northeast.
Assam is one of the first states in the country to allow people to go home directly from the testing site.
"Airlines were finding it difficult to increase the number of flights, as there are restrictions from the state government on such an increase. Under the prevailing situation, we have been able to operate about 30 flights from the Guwahati airport every day. But, after the Assam government introduced relaxations on quarantine rules for air passengers recently, a 2-5% increase in the number of air passengers in Assam has been recorded. This is significant considering the situation the aviation industry has faced since lockdown," Sanjeev Jindal, regional executive director, Airports Authority of India (AAI)-Northeast, told TOI on Wednesday.
He said the "fear" of institutional quarantine under government supervision and "comfort issue" had been a major reason that discouraged people to return to Assam by air over the past few weeks, except for those for whom the journey was essential.
"Since the home quarantine option has now been made available, we are hopeful that the number of air passengers will increase further," said Jindal, who himself quarantined himself at home after arriving at the Guwahati airport from New Delhi on Sunday.
State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday held a video conference with the deputy commissioners of the districts, where the districts having the airports have been asked to start the process of rapid antigen test for air travelers and facilitate home quarantine for those who test negative. In Assam, there are six airports - in Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Jorhat, Tezpur and Lilabari in Lakhimpur, but the LGBI Airport in the city sees the maximum traffic.
16/07/20 Kanghan Kalita/Times of India
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Assam is one of the first states in the country to allow people to go home directly from the testing site.
"Airlines were finding it difficult to increase the number of flights, as there are restrictions from the state government on such an increase. Under the prevailing situation, we have been able to operate about 30 flights from the Guwahati airport every day. But, after the Assam government introduced relaxations on quarantine rules for air passengers recently, a 2-5% increase in the number of air passengers in Assam has been recorded. This is significant considering the situation the aviation industry has faced since lockdown," Sanjeev Jindal, regional executive director, Airports Authority of India (AAI)-Northeast, told TOI on Wednesday.
He said the "fear" of institutional quarantine under government supervision and "comfort issue" had been a major reason that discouraged people to return to Assam by air over the past few weeks, except for those for whom the journey was essential.
"Since the home quarantine option has now been made available, we are hopeful that the number of air passengers will increase further," said Jindal, who himself quarantined himself at home after arriving at the Guwahati airport from New Delhi on Sunday.
State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday held a video conference with the deputy commissioners of the districts, where the districts having the airports have been asked to start the process of rapid antigen test for air travelers and facilitate home quarantine for those who test negative. In Assam, there are six airports - in Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Jorhat, Tezpur and Lilabari in Lakhimpur, but the LGBI Airport in the city sees the maximum traffic.
16/07/20 Kanghan Kalita/Times of India
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