Delhi airport handles over 1,310 cargo, relief flights during Covid-19 lockdown

Over 500 personnel from DIAL’s operations, cargo, housekeeping, airport rescue and fire fighting (ARFF), apron control teams, in coordination with CISF, immigration, airlines, ground handling agencies, ATC and others have been working round-the-clock to make such functioning possible, a statement said.

The Delhi airport handled at least 1,000 cargo flights and more than 310 evacuation flights, both domestic and international, during the lockdown, the airport operator said on Wednesday.

Stranded New Zealand nationals arrive to board a repatriation flight back home at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi. (AP File Photo/Representative Photo)

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which operates the Indira Gandhi International Airport, said since the nationwide lockdown began on March 25, evacuation flights to 58 destinations — 16 domestic and 44 international, operated out of Delhi Airport.

“Around 27,500 foreign nationals and 2,300 Indians were evacuated during this period. Also, the airport handled the movement of over 12,600 metric tonnes of import and export cargo, including COVID-19 related medical essentials and fresh vegetables,” DIAL said in a statement.

Over 500 personnel from DIAL’s operations, cargo, housekeeping, airport rescue and fire fighting (ARFF), apron control teams, in coordination with CISF, immigration, airlines, ground handling agencies, ATC and others have been working round-the-clock to make such functioning possible, the statement said.

The airport has also created a dedicated medical distribution facility to process and distribute imported medical essentials to medical institutes and hospital across the country.

The airport was also recently designated as the major hub for import and distribution of Covid-related medical essentials.