Domestic flights resume after two months, Students, migrants take the first flight home
New Delhi, May 25 (PTI) Indian skies opened up for domestic passenger services from today after a gap of two months, with Delhi-Pune and Mumbai-Patna flights being among the first to take off, aviation industry sources said.
All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended since March 25 when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
Both the flights will be operated by IndiGo on Monday morning. While the Delhi-Pune flight is scheduled to depart at 4.45 AM, the Mumbai-Patna flight would depart at 6.45 AM.
Aviation industry sources said the first passenger flight would be 6E643 from Delhi airport and it is likely to be operated by aircraft VT-ITK, which is an A320neo plane of IndiGo.
The sources added the first domestic passenger flight to arrive at Delhi airport on Monday would be from Ahmedabad and it is of SpiceJet.
“The flight SG8194, which would be conducted by B737 model numbered VT-SGQ, would be landing at 7.45 AM at Delhi airport,” one of the sources said.
The Mumbai airport’s operator MIAL said in a statement, “The first flight departing out of CSMIA (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport ) will be to Patna at 6:45hrs and flight arriving from Lucknow will be the first arrival flight at 8:20hrs both operated by IndiGo.”
It was announced last Thursday that one-third of pre-lockdown domestic flights will operate from Monday. All international scheduled commercial passenger flights remain suspended.
Meanwhile, as India resumed domestic passenger flights in a graded manner, hundreds of people reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport here to take early morning flights to their hometowns and workplaces.
Flight operations remained shut for two months owing to the nationwide lockdown necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Those who took first flights included paramilitary personnel, army men, students and migrants, who failed to book a ticket on special trains being run by the railways.
Many said they shelled out more to reach the airport as there were limited public transport options available.
With trains running full and inter-state buses remaining off the roads, Sandeep Singh, 19, spent Rs 5,500 to reach Delhi from Dehradun where he studies.
“I remained stuck in my PG. Mummy and papa were a worried lot. I am taking the first flight home,” he said.
Aamir Afzal, a mechanical engineer from Patna, who had come to Delhi on an official visit on March 23, was among those who took the flights to celebrate Eid with family and friends.
I had been staying in a hotel in Mahipalpur with my co-worker. The hotel charged us Rs 900 per day. We could not get a confirmed ticket on a train back home, he said.
Due to the lesser number of trains, the tickets get sold out within 5-10 minutes. It is difficult for a person to book a ticket using a mobile phone, Afzal said.
Afzal’s friend Rahid Ali said he was happy he would be able to join his family in Bihar’s Begusarai district on Eid.
But it will be a muted affair as so many homeless and hungry migrants who cannot afford to travel on train or flight are still stuck in various parts of the country. It doesn’t suit one to celebrate the festival in such circumstances, he said.
A few people travelled long distances only to find that their flights had been cancelled.
Naik Satish Kumar’s Kolkata-bound flight got cancelled as the state decided not to resume operations till May 28.
I travelled all the way from Ambala on a bus to take a 6-am flight to Kolkata. When I reached here, I got to know the flight had been cancelled. I am returning home now, he said.
Excited to meet his two-year-old daughter, Santu Mandal, a resident of West Bengal’s Bardhaman district, reached the airport along with brother, Nasiruddin Mandal, at 1 am, unaware that the flight to Kolkata had been cancelled.
The Mandal brothers, engaged in hand embroidery, spent Rs 12,000 to book the tickets because we could not get a confirmed train ticket .
It is the first time Sudhir Kumar will be on a plane.
The Army personnel posted in Punjab’s Bhatinda district says he never considered taking a flight home earlier as train travel is convenient and cheap.
But trains are full already, he said.
KV Network
