Domestic Flight Begins After Two Months Of Lockdown
- Sandhya Agrawal
- May 26, 2020
- 3 min read
After the announcement by Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, domestic flights in India have started operating from 25th May. People were seen maintaining social distancing by leaving a chair next to them. Passengers were seen wearing face masks to avoid the spread of Coronavirus infection. Domestic flight operations resumed nearly two months after the lockdown. While other states have already returned to the air services, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal are yet to start their services.
While maintaining the norms of air travel, the cabin crew members were seen wearing PPE kits. However, on the very first-day passengers had to face chaos as nearly 80 flight to and from Delhi was cancelled due to restrictions by states and considering some technical issues, an official said. Nevertheless, many flights operated successfully, and passengers were able to reach their homes.
Although the centre did not issue any guidelines on mandatory quarantine for the travellers, 11 states and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir have mandated either institutional or home quarantine for arriving passengers. The states are Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, and Odisha. The central government even announced that to maintain social distancing flights will operate at 1/3rd of their capacity.
Meanwhile, as per the guidelines of air travel, it was made clear to the citizens that any person found suspected of having symptoms related to Coronavirus maybe not allowed travelling.
Here are the guidelines for air travellers amid the Coronavirus pandemic:
The wearing of masks and gloves are mandatory during the travel.
Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to travel.
Passengers must have to undergo thermal screening.
Installation of Aarogya Setu app remains mandatory.
Personal vehicles are allowed inside the airport premises, but selected cars are allowed to take passengers to the airport.
Passengers have to reach the airport 2 hours before the departure time.
Additionally, only those passengers whose flights are within four hours of departure will be allowed entry inside the terminal.
Travellers will have to do web check-in.
Boarding passes to be obtained online, and there will be no stamping of boarding passes.
Passengers should also download the bag tag.
As a part of the boarding rules, the passengers will be provided with safety kits by the airlines.
Passengers will have to self scan the boarding pass and have to show an ID proof to the airline staff at the boarding gate.
Fooding Protocols:
Except for water, no other consumables will be allowed on board.
Any non-essential movement in the aisles will be avoided.
No meal service, newspapers, magazines will be serviceable inside the aircraft.
Arrival Procedures & Rules:
Passengers should use authorised taxi services only.
Social distancing must be followed strictly.
The passengers must adhere to the guidelines issued by the destination state or union territory.
Quarantine Guidelines:
Asymptomatic passengers are advised to self isolate themselves for 14 days.
Inform the state if any symptom is witnessed.
Those having moderate or severe symptoms will be admitted to dedicated COVID health facilities.
Those having mild symptoms will be given the option of home isolation or isolated in the COVID care centre.
The state of Andhra Pradesh is set to resume its domestic travel operations from 26th May and West Bengal from 28th May. West Bengal is particularly facing problems as the Cyclone Amphan has severely destroyed the state.
Also, states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, home to some of the country's busiest airports, were reluctant to allow domestic flight services from their airports, citing COVID-19 cases swelling over there. Though, Mumbai Airport, India's second busiest airport, only can handle 50 flights a day.
The pricing of flight tickets is set, Rs 3,500 is the minimum price and Rs 10,000 is the maximum price for any flight tickets.
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