No domestic flights in West Bengal and Andhra on Monday; Mumbai, Hyd & Chennai to see reduced ops

airports in Kolkata and Bagdogra in West Bengal and Vizag and Vijayawa in Andhra Presh will t handle any domestic flights on Monday while ones at Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderab will deal with a reduced number of domestic services, senior government officials said on Sunday.

A day before resumption of domestic commercial passenger flights across India, multiple meetings were held at Civil Aviation Ministry among various stakeholders as states expressed ir reluctance to deal with so many incoming flyers amid coronavirus pandemic.

refore, it was decided on Sunday evening that Kolkata and Bagdogra will each handle just 20 flights per day from Thursday, officials said, ding that se two airports in West Bengal will t handle any flights between Monday and Wednesday.

"It has been a long day of hard negotiations with various state govts to recommence civil aviation operations in country," said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Twitter on Sunday night.

"Except Andhra Presh which will start on 26/5 & West Bengal on 28/5, domestic flights will recommence across country from tomorrow (Monday)," he ded.

Hyderab airport will deal with only 30 domestic flights per day from Monday, government officials said, ding that 50 per cent of se will be departures and remaining would be arrivals.

re will be domestic services at Vijaywa and Vizag airports on Monday, and y will be handling only 20 per cent of pre-lockdown flights from Tuesday onwards, officials said.

"As per request of state govt, operations in Andhra Presh will recommence on a limited scale from 26 May," Puri said.

"For Tamil Nu re will be max 25 arrivals in Chennai but re's limit on number of departures. For or airports in Tamil Nu flights will operate as in or parts of country," he ded.

Indian airlines, who h opened ir bookings on domestic services 2-3 days ago, will have to cancel a significant number of flights to se cities where central government curtailed operations on Sunday.

Mumbai airport, India's second busiest airpo rt, will handle only 50 flights per day from Monday, said officials, ding that all or airports in Maharashtra will deal with just one-third of pre-lockdown domestic air traffic.

Mumbai airport's operator MIAL on Sunday said it will "resume 25 commercial passenger flight movements on departure and 25 on arrival".  

Indian skies will open up for domestic passenger flights from Monday after a gap of two months. It was anunced last Thursday that one-third of pre-lockdown domestic flights will operate from Monday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee h on Saturday said she will urge Centre to postpone resumption of domestic flight services at Kolkata and Bagdogra airports by a few days.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Twitter on Sunday that it is "extremely ill-vised" to reopen airports in red zones.

International commercial passenger flight services remain suspended in India.

"Starting tomorrow, re will be limited flights from Mumbai & as per approved one-third schedule from or airports in state. Limited operations to West Bengal will commence on 28th May 2020," Puri said on Twitter on Sunday night.