Before lockdown period India was placed at about world 60th rank . But even during lockdown period India witnessed highest rise in Corona virus affected patients and moved up its position in to top 10 nation in the world
It is to be noted on the date of domestic flight operation commencement virus affected persons in India exceeded 1.4 Lakhs and deaths crossed 4000+
It is in this period Modi led Indian government effected resumption of domestic flights on Monday after a gap of two months even as various state governments expressed reluctance to open up their airports in view of rising cases of coronavirus.
Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri hailed the resumption of flights on Twitter and said when the Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal resuming flights the numbers will rise ..
However News agency PTI quoted an aviation industry source as saying that around 630 flights were cancelled due to states’ restrictions.
The first flight on Monday was from Delhi to Pune at 4.45 am and civil aviation authorities ensured strict regulations were followed by airlines and passengers equally.
The first flight from Mumbai was to Patna which took off at 6.45 am. However, a large number of flights were cancelled amid confusion as states differed in the set regulations meant for airline passengers.
Sources said around 82 flights including departures and arrivals were cancelled at the Delhi airport, sparking confusion and hassles for passengers.
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States like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, having some of the most busiest airports in the country were reluctant to allow flight services from, citing increasing cases of the coronavirus infection.
The West Bengal government cited the dual crisis of coronavirus and the aftermath of the Cyclone Amphan and said the state would allow flights to resume on a gradual basis from both the Kolkata and Bagdogra airport from May 28. Andhra Pradesh too did not allow any flights on Monday.
Airlines too were jittery in resuming services as different states have put in place separate norms and conditions for quarantining passengers arriving there by domestic flights.
Some states have decided to put passengers in mandatory institutional quarantine while several others have talked about putting them under home quarantine.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had questioned the need for quarantine if a passenger shows green status on the Aarogya Setu app. The green status signifies that a passenger is safe.
As many as 20 flights were operated to and from the Mumbai airport till 12:45 pm on Monday after Indian airlines resumed commercial passenger services after two months of COVID-19 lockdown.
The airport received around 1,900 passenger, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said in a statement.
The airports in Mumbai in Maharashtra and Hyderabad in Telangana will handle 50 and 30 flights respectively everyday from Monday, aviation officials said.
Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport saw the first flight leaving for Ranchi with about 176 passengers, as cancellations marred the day.
According to sources, the first flight out was an Air Asia aircraft to Ranchi that departed at around 5:15 am, while the first arrival was a flight from Chennai at about 8 am with around 113 passengers.
However to Air operators reports, over 30 flights flying out of Bengaluru have been cancelled.
Operations resumed at the Surat airport too, with four flights on Monday, said its director Aman Saini. “Two flights arrived here from Delhi and Hyderabad and departed for the same destinations. Three flights were cancelled by a private operator on Monday,” she said.
This is ln Normal days total 40 flights were scheduled to arrive and an equal number slated to depart from the Ahmedabad airport, said a senior official.
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