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Post marathon meeting, Puri gets states on board to resume domestic flights
In a marathon meeting held from Sunday morning till late night, with the state governments, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri negotiated terms and conditions set by each state to convince them all to come on board for resuming flight operations, senior officials involved in the process said.
As domestic flights were scheduled to begin from May 25 onwards, the fate of flight operations from states including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra seemed uncertain till Sunday morning as the three state governments had opposed the Centre’s flight resumption plan.
In a marathon meeting held from Sunday morning till late night, with the state governments, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri negotiated terms and conditions set by each state to convince them all to come on board for resuming flight operations, senior officials involved in the process said.
“Negotiations were held with the state governments and they all came on board, as we also agreed to certain terms and conditions. State governments like Maharashtra had genuine concerns as it has the most number of Covid-19 cases but we agreed to run fewer flights to Mumbai. Only 25 flights will operate to Mumbai. West Bengal too had concerns due to the damage caused by Cyclone Amphan and we agreed to delay flight operations from the state government,” the official said.
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Puri said there will be limited flights from Mumbai and West Bengal.
“It has been a long day of hard negotiations with various state governments to recommence civil aviation operations in the country. Except Andhra Pradesh which will start on 26/5 and West Bengal on 28/5, domestic flights will recommence across the country from tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, there will be limited flights from Mumbai and as per approved ⅓ schedule from other airports in the state. Limited operations to West Bengal will commence on 28th May 2020,” Puri tweeted.
“As per request of the state government, operations in Andhra Pradesh will recommence on a limited scale from May 26. For Tamil Nadu, there will be maximum 25 arrivals in Chennai but there’s no limit on number of departures. For other airports in TN flights will operate as in other parts of country,” he added.
On Saturday, Maharashtra and West Bengal had warned the Centre against resuming flight operations from May 25.
“It’s extremely ill-advised to reopen airports in red zone. Mere thermal scanning of the passengers, inadequate w/o swabs. Impossible to have autos/cabs/buses ply in current circumstances. Adding positive passengers will add Covid-19 stress to red zones. #MaharashtraGovtCares,” Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had tweeted adding that allowing passengers to travel from green zones to red zones and “putting them to risk of exposure doesn’t make sense”.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also appealed to the Centre to defer flight operations in West Bengal in view of Cyclone Amphan that has ravaged parts of the state. In guidelines issued late on Sunday the state government said, “On arrival, health screening shall be done for all the passengers. Asymptomatic passengers will be permitted to go with the advice that they shall self-monitor their health for 14 days.”
The state government has decided that Kolkata and Bagdogra Airport will not operate any flights till May 28 as they have asked the government to stop flights till May 30.
Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had on Saturday also cautioned Puri, requesting him to avoid domestic flights into the state till May 31. On Sunday morning the state government issued guidelines on resumption of domestic flights. The state’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be in addition to the instructions of the civil aviation ministry and include a 14-day home quarantine for asymptomatic fliers and institutional isolation for those without facilities for home quarantine.
