E-Paper
Lukewarm response to domestic flights in Punjab on Day 1
Only 52 passengers landed in Amritsar and Ludhiana in three flights from outside the state
Low footfall of passengers was witnessed at Amritsar and Ludhiana airports on Monday as some domestic flights resumed operations after two months. There was strict vigil to ensure social distancing and that the passengers had Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones.
At Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport in Amritsar, two flights arrived from Jaipur (Spice Jet) and Delhi (Vistara,) carrying 16 and 25 passengers, respectively. The flights to Patna (Spice Jet) and Delhi (Indigo) ferried 39 and 31 passengers, respectively, as per the details shared by airport director Manoj Chansoria. The details of three more flights—one from Patna and two from Delhi — scheduled to land at Amritsar were not available till the filing of the report.
Eleven passengers arrived from Delhi at Ludhiana’s Sahnewal airport in an Air India flight (9I-837) that reached around 2.35pm. The return flight to Delhi (9I-838) left from the airport at 3.20pm carrying just five passengers.
According to Sahnewal airport director SK Sharan, 15 passengers had booked tickets from Delhi to Ludhiana, but four did not take the flight.
Two flights which were scheduled to reach Amritsar from Mumbai were cancelled. “These flights were cancelled due to operational reasons. Most probably, these flights will start from June 1,” said Chansoria.
“I am very happy that the domestic flights have resumed. I am desperate to meet parents,” said Aman Kumar, a student of Lovely Professional University, who boarded the flight to Patna.
562 passengers land in Srinagar, 171 in Jammu
Six flights carrying 562 passengers arrived at Srinagar airport on Monday, officials said, adding the first flight (Air Asia) reached at 7:25am. “All passengers were thoroughly screened for Covid-19 and their samples were taken,” officials said. As per the government guidelines, all the passengers were sampled for Covid-19 and then sent to quarantine centres, including some hotels, by the UT administration.
As many as 351 passengers travelled to and from Jammu airport in five flights. Pravat Ranjan Beuria, director of Jammu airport, said, “Out of total eight flights scheduled to land at Jammu airport on Monday, three were cancelled by the operators from their origin airports.”
“Operations started at 8.40am with the arrival of Air India flight from Delhi, followed by four more flights from Delhi and Srinagar. A total of 171 passengers arrived in Jammu on Monday,” said Beuria.
Three flights, including Vistara from Srinagar, Indigo from Mumbai and Spicejet from Delhi, were cancelled on Monday morning.
34 reach Kangra from Delhi
: Thirty-four people landed at Gaggal airport in Kangra of Himachal Pradesh in a Spicejet flight from Delhi even as two Air India flights scheduled for Monday were cancelled.
Deputy commissioner Rakesh Kumar Prajapati said the aircraft landed at the airport at 12:20pm. Thirty-four passengers arrived. They were thermal-scanned and placed under institutional quarantine for seven days.”
“Only Himachal residents are being allowed to come to the state with permission from the DM of the districts concerned,” said Prajapati.
