Air India to operate special domestic flights from May 19-June 2 to move stranded passengers

As per the speech by our honourable Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi we have to prepared for staggered relaxation during lockdown 4.0 from May 18.

In the aviation sector, Air India is set to start the operations of special domestic flights between May 19 and June 2.

As the reports suggest, the domestic flights are expected to connect major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Jaipur, etc.

Senior Air India officials are considering this as part of Air India’s ongoing evacuation operations. This will be the second phase of the operations where domestic passengers can also be included.

In phase 1.0 of the 'Operation Vande Bharat- A homecoming', India started evacuating stranded Indians from abroad by including countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Germany, Spain, and Thailand. Also, seven Air India routes were organized by the Indian government from London's Heathrow Airport to six Indian cities – Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, and New Delhi.

As expected, The resumption of Air India’s domestic flight services is on the lines of the train services being started by the Indian railways.

Train News here: https://www.tripcompile.com/indian-railways-to-resume-passenger-train-May12.html

The daily quoted a senior Air India official as saying, “We are waiting for a nod from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The schedule has been prepared as part of phase-2 of evacuation flights to bring Indians from abroad. The government had said that domestic flights too could be included in the second schedule.”

These flights scheduled in such a manner that passengers arriving from overseas on rescue flights can fly to their home states. However, this will also depend on quarantine norms, adding that the operation was slated to begin on May 15 but was delayed to 17.

Note - The said news report also refers to other airlines being allowed to operate some flights as well.

Air India Special Domestic Flights Plan which can be operated :

• Flights from Delhi to Jaipur, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Vijayawada, Lucknow, Gaya.
• Flights from Mumbai to Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada.
• Flights from Bengaluru to Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad.
• Flights from Hyderabad to Delhi, Mumbai

The Ministry of civil aviation has issued a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resuming commercial domestic flights operations in the country, which remain halted since March 25 due to the weeks-long countrywide lockdown.

Travellers will have to disclose their history related to coronavirus and quarantine, if any, in the last one month, and no cabin baggage and the use of the Aarogya Setu app is a must. Passengers will have to reach the airports at least two hours before the flight departure and many more,as the draft SOP mentions.

Detailed rules in draft SOP which have to be followed by airlines, airports, and passengers. Check here: https://www.tripcompile.com/aviation-ministry-discusses-flight-resumption-rules.html

Furthermore, in the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission, the airline is actively considering to operate 149 repatriation flights to 31 countries between May 16 and May 22. 

#FlyAI : Phase II of the flights operated by Air India and Air India Express for return of stranded Indians from 32 countries will start from
16th May, 2020.

— Air India (@airindiain) May 14, 2020

Update :- Air India might allow only bookings to be done by the Indians returning from abroad. during vande bharat mission flights by the Government of India.

Please let us know in the comment section below if you are one of the stranded passengers and would want the domestic flights to start.

(With Inputs From TOI)

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