AI increases frequency of domestic flights to help stranded citizens

People stranded in Mumbai, wanting to fly back to Hyderabad, Cochin, Kolkata, Bhopal, Rajkot, Tirupati and Vishakhapatnam, now have more options, as the national

People stranded in Mumbai, wanting to fly back to Hyderabad, Cochin, Kolkata, Bhopal, Rajkot, Tirupati and Vishakhapatnam, now have more options, as the national carrier- Air India has increased the frequency of flights to these cities.

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Air India announced the additional frequencies of flights on the social media networking site, Twitter, on Monday night. “We are adding more flights gradually, to enhance the air connectivity for the convenience of passengers,” said an Air India official. However, the airline spokesperson remained unavailable for comment.

Mumbai-Hyderabad-Mumbai and Mumbai-Bhopal-Mumbai routes will see additional flights on Mondays; Mumbai-Kolkata-Mumbai will see additional flight for four days – Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Similarly, Mumbai-Rajkot-Mumbai will have additional services added on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

While these additional flights have already been added by the airline, Mumbai-Cochin-Mumbai (on Wednesdays and Fridays) will be effective from Wednesday, June 24 and Mumbai-Tirupati-Visakhapatnam-Mumbai (on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays) will be effective from Thursday, June 25.

Apart from these, the frequency of flights have increased from Delhi to Bengaluru, Indore, Ranchi and Coimbatore and Bengaluru-Chandigarh-Bengaluru and Hyderabad-Vishakhapatnam-Hyderabad routes.

Mumbai airport, that was allowed to operate only 25 departing and 25 arriving flights from May 25 as per state government’s restrictions, was permitted to double the flight operations.

On Monday, June 15, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) was permitted to operate 100 domestic commercial flights. The airline, however, took time to increase the frequency of flights to and from CSMIA. While June 16 saw 52 flight movements, 55 flights operated on June 17.

“The airlines have slowly increased their flights to and from CSMIA. June 23 flight plan saw 98 flights listed to be operating to and from Mumbai airport,” said a CSMIA official.

The six main airlines: Air India, IndiGo, Vistara, SpiceJet, GoAir and Air Asia India, TruJet and Alliance Air, too, have commenced their flights from the city airport.

“Flights from Mumbai have been added not only due to slot availability, but also due to demand from sectors from the city,” an Air India official said.