Domestic flights resume in India, as more states come on board

Indian skies opened up for domestic passenger services from today after a hiatus of two months due to coronavirus-induced lockdown across India. Indigo’s Delhi-Pune and Mumbai-Patna flights were among the first to take off.

Most of the states in India have given a go ahead for flight services from Monday. The two distinct exceptions are Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Andhra Pradesh will resume flights from May 26 and West Bengal from May 28.

Maharashtra had earlier said that it will allow only few flights each day from Mumbai airport. But on Sunday, the state said it will allow 25 flights to land and 25 more to take off from the Mumbai international airport from today.

Maharashtra Minorities Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said, “The Mumbai International Airport will operate 50 flights in and out on a daily basis starting Monday onwards. The number of flights will be increased steadily.”

All scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended since March 25 when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic.