Today, that is May 25th is the day when domestic flights resumed all across India. On March 25th, domestic and international flights were suspended, as the entire nation went into forced lockdown to combat coronavirus spread.
However, it was chaos as Delhi cancelled 80 flights, and passengers were left in lurch.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court has ordered Air India to cancel all middle seat tickets, from June 5th.
80 Flights Cancelled To & From Delhi
After a gap of 60 days, domestic flights resumed across India, expect two states: West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, where the flights will start from May 28th and May 26th respectively.
However, there was utter chaos at Delhi’s T3 terminal, as 80 flights to and from Delhi were suddenly cancelled.
Officials told that these cancellations happened as the airport authorities didnt receive permission from the respective states.
A passenger said, “Only when our boarding passes were scanned at the airport entry we were told that boarding has been cancelled. We don’t know what to do now,”
More details are awaited on this.
Flight crew and passengers were seen wearing masks, and PPEs to prevent infections. All passengers were mandatorily thermal screened, and social distancing was enforced everywhere.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri said yesterday: “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,”
Air India Ordered To Remove Middle Seat Tickets
After a pilot filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Air India issuing middle seats as well, to maintain profits, an order was issued against it.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde ordered that Bombay High Court’s order regarding the middle seats will have to be followed by Air India.
The Bench, which also comprised of AS Bopanna and Hirshikesh Roy, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta (appearing for the Centre): “You should be worried about the health of citizens, not about the health of commercial airlines,”
This means that after June 5th, Air India and other airlines will have to keep the middle seats vacant.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
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