An important question in India at this point in time is how are the domestic flights operating? In fact, to put it succinctly, the question is- are the domestic flights in India going to function at all and in the first place? Well, it doesn’t make anyone an Einstein anymore to know that among the sectors or industries worst affected during the terrible medical mayhem of Coronavirus was the tourism sector.
The same way the likes of Hospitality and Aviation got rendered a damning blow.
Wherever you are, you are advised to stay back or stay indoors. There’s no remote chance of venturing out. And where it stands today, there are only memories and past recalls of visits to the airport. We remember the selfies at the airport.
We deeply miss the last minute status updates whilst we are sitting in the plane and waiting for the flight to take to the skies. Oh how terrible and desperate have been these times where we are simply unable to fly and are just sitting indoors.
All this time, life’s happening outdoors; with the days turning to the nights and a new day coming and going only to replace the last one with anew.
But wait. It appears that finally there’s some change on the cards. It seems that where the domestic flights in India are concerned at present, then we may soon get a few to be operational!
So what’s the current picture?
What we do know is that there just haven’t been any flights whatsoever for a period of over 2 months. Simply do the math and what turns up is quite strange.
Who could’ve, for instance, imagined an India minus any airlines functioning for 60 whole days?
But now, it’s believed that on certain routes there’ll be a daily run of flights. And this concerns specifically the domestic operations.
But guess what? The really interesting piece of news isn’t this alone!
The fact that the domestic flights are going to get operational once again is indeed a great piece of news- yes! But the fact that the resumption is happening after as many as 609 cancellations is actually the big part of the story.
Yes, who would’ve believed. While on the one hand, a simple cancellation prompts a bit of a heartache for many, imagine the plight of those who would’ve endured as many as 609 cancellations?
Meanwhile, here’s England’s The Guardian in its latest report on the big story that’s trending everywhere in India:
Passengers travelling on Monday could only board flight if they had no symptoms, were registered on the government’s Covid-19 app, and had checked in online. They were ordered to avoid eating on flights and air crewwore protective gowns, masks, and face shields.
Many travellers had failed to make it home on
Maharashtra, the worst affected state, wanted more time to prepare Mumbai Airport, the second busiest in the country. The state government agreed to accept flights on Sunday but set a cap of 50 per day, as opposed to the some 900 the airport used to handle pre-lockdown.Advertisement
Tamil Nadu and other states are also limiting flights to avoid a large influx. West Bengal has refused to start flights until Wednesday as it is recovering from the devastation all thanks to the Cyclone Amphan.