Domestic flight ops start at Chandigarh, Amritsar airports; incoming passengers more than outgoing

Domestic flight operations started at the Chandigarh International Airport and Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport in Amritsar on Monday, as passenger air travel resumed within the country after a gap of two months.

Officials at the Chandigarh airport said incoming passenger traffic was more than the those flying out of the city.

The airport here devised standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as maintaining social distancing norms and stringent thermal screening for the safety of passengers and airport staff.

According to Chandigarh airport officials, the flights which landed here included those from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru and the ones departing from here were also to these cities. An Air India flight from Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh was cancelled due to operational reasons, they said.

The Indigo flight from Mumbai brought 142 passengers to Chandigarh on return it took off with 38 people on board. The Air Asia flight from Bengaluru arrived with 88 passengers and went back to Bengaluru with 39 passengers. The Vistara flight to Delhi from here had 25 passengers.

Domestic flights also became operational from Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport in Amritsar.

On the first day after the two-month hiatus, two Mumbai-Amritsar flights of private airlines were cancelled, officials at the airport said, adding a Jaipur-Amritsar-Patna flight brought in 16 passengers and took off with 40 passengers for Patna Sahib.

Two more flights were scheduled in the evening on the Amritsar-Delhi sector.

According to airport officials, Arogya Setu app and the wearing of face mask have been made mandatory for all passengers. All passengers were being screened and their luggage sanitized thoroughly, they said.

At the Chandigarh airport, CISF personnel, tasked with guarding the facility, have been provided with transparent plexiglass sheets to avoid any physical contact with passengers. The airport had earlier announced the resumption of operations in a phased manner with 13 domestic flights from Monday.

On Sunday, the Mohali district administration had said that all Punjab-bound air travellers must be tested for COVID-19 upon their arrival at the Chandigarh airport and then mandatorily home quarantined for 14 days.

In case, the test comes out to be positive, the person will be shifted to an isolation facility, they had said.