Civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri on Sunday declared that over 75,000 passengers travelled on domestic flights on July 4, the highest daily traffic, seen 41 days after the resumption of domestic flights on May 25. Puri noted that the Saturday figures were a great improvement on the 30,000 fliers, who boarded flights on May 25, after two months of suspension of air travel since March 25 following the outbreak of coronavirus disease in the country.
“Domestic operations began with about 30K flyers on 25th May. Yesterday we crossed the 75K mark which indicates a slow & steady rise in number of domestic flyers,” Puri’s tweet said.
Puri noted the steady increase in traffic and stated that a total of 1,560 domestic flights were operated on July 4 carrying 76,104 fliers. The footfalls at airports had also increased to 1,53,547 on the day.
Puri’s tweet follows an attempt by his ministry to further remove impediments to domestic air travel by easing the attached conditions. In an order released on June 29, the ministry allowed anyone who had not tested Covid 19 positive in the last three weeks to travel by air. Passengers only need to make a self-declaration in this regard and those who have been cured from the disease are expected to produce a certificate confirming their cure or discharge before they are allowed to board an aircraft. The ministry said the decision had been taken in the view of the high number of recoveries taking place. The earlier condition barred air travel for people if they had tested positive in the last two months.
The rise in domestic air travel coincides with a 14-day-long suspension of flights to Kolkata from Covid hotspots of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad between July 6 and July 19 on the request of the West Bengal government. The move is aimed to contain the rapid rise of positive cases in Bengal, said the state government.
An average 65 domestic flights took off and touched down in Kolkata every day since June 2, said news agency PTI. During the pre-Covid period, the Kolkata airport operated around 200 domestic and 35 international flights regularly.
Punjab allows staggered arrival of flights
According to the new rules for air travel that came into effect on May 25, vulnerable persons, such as very elderly, pregnant ladies, passengers with health issues are advised to avoid air travel. However, this doesn’t apply to air ambulance services.
Physical check-in at airport counters has been done away with and only passengers with confirmed web check-in are allowed to enter the airport. Passenger manifest sent electronically to each passenger is treated as a boarding pass. Passengers are required to show their Covid 19 status in the Aarogya Setu App. Fliers are required to wear protective gear, especially the face mask.
