Domestic Flight Operation In India To Resume By May 15: Civil Aviation Minister

New Delhi: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has informed that the domestic flight operation may resume in the country by May 15. The commercial flight services were suspended in the country following the announcement of nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 on March 24.

While speaking to a national media, Puri said that the government is planning to start domestic flight operations by May 15 in green zones and also metropolitan cities.

“We are planning to start domestic flight operations even before May 15. My effort will be to try and move in the direction of starting it very soon. I can’t put a date on it because when you are planning evacuation operations, you need the co-operation of the state governments. In order to open up domestic civil aviation, I need the domestic infrastructure in place,” Puri told Outlook.

Commercial Flight Operations Likely To Resume Before #Lockdown 3.0 Ends!

Speaking to a national media, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri informs govt is planning to start domestic flight operations by May 15 in green zones & also metropolitan cities (File Pic) pic.twitter.com/KKyx9TdYGi

— OTV (@otvnews) May 9, 2020

“We have to take a final decision on this. If you look at the map of India, operating between green zones is easy. But if you look at all the metropolitans, they are in red zone. We can’t leave them totally also. A decision will be taken on this in the next few days,” he added.

Meanwhile, two evacuation flights of Air India Express to Chennai from Dubai landed at Chennai International Airport with 356 passengers and three infants on the wee hours of Saturday.

Similarly, the first evacuation flight from Bahrain carrying 177 passengers landed in Kochi at 11.30 PM on Friday.

The flights are being operated as a part of the government's campaign 'Vande Bharat Mission' to bring back Indians stranded abroad due to Covid-19 lockdown.

According to sources, the Centre has decided to operate about 64 Air India flights between May 7 and May 13 to bring back stranded Indians from 12 countries. So far a total of 67,833 people have been found eligible to be brought back home under the 'Vande Bharat Mission'. After completing the first phase, the government may start the second phase of the mission from May 15.

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