Chaos at Delhi airport as India flies again after 2 months of lockdown

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Domestic air travel has resumed after a gap of two months of COVID-19-induced lockdown. But all was not smooth as reported by several passengers who had to wait in queues, reach the airport much earlier and go through the thermal screening. What was worse, many flights were cancelled at the last minute without prior intimation, leaving passengers in the lurch.

Photos: Rajwant Rawat

The first flight to Delhi

The first flight to arrive in Delhi today was a SpiceJet flight from Ahmedabad.

First flight from Delhi airport

The first flight took off at 4:45 am for Pune. It was an Indigo A320 Neo plane. Ahead of May 25, the Airport Authority of India had released a new set of Standard Operating Procedures for passengers and flights.

Safety Precautions

According to the guidelines issued by the AAI, passengers were seen in protective gear, bags were sanitised. Strict thermal screening and social distancing was being ensured.

State-wise protocols

Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal were the two states which did not resume flights from today. Andhra Pradesh would start from May 26 and Bengal from May 28. Each state is following its own set of guidelines for passengers. Domestic flight operations in Tripura stand cancelled too, as most flights connected to Kolkata airport which is not functioning due to cyclone Amphan. Most states have allowed just a few flights as of now and will scale up gradually.

Chaos at Delhi Airport

There were 82 cancellations at the Delhi airport which inconvenienced the passengers since cancellations happened without prior intimation. Most cancellations were due to cyclone Amphan which had affected parts of Eastern India. Several states have also capped the number of incoming and outgoing flights due to a spike in coronavirus cases.

International flights

Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Puri has stated that international flights would resume before August.