States Draw Up Plans As Flights Resume From Monday
Most airports will operate at half or lower capacity as states draw up strict guidelines for arriving passengers.
Civilian flight operations will resume on Monday in almost all but two states. The Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri clarified late on Sunday evening, that except Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, airlines will operate limited flights to all other airports. Puri’s tweet comes after various state governments voiced reservations on allowing air travel to resume from Monday.
States in the mean time have drawn up their individual Standard Operating Procedures to deal with incoming passengers.
Maharashtra
Only 25 departures and 25 arrivals daily from Mumbai, according to state minister Nawab Malik. The state plans to gradually scale up operations, at the Mumbai airport, which is one of the busiest in the country. All other airports in the state can operate up to one-third of the approved summer schedule.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had also spoken to the Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri requesting more time to resume domestic air travel to and from the state.
Kerala
In-bound passengers to register on the state government's Covid-19 Jagratha portal. 14-day home quarantine is also mandatory.
West Bengal
Civilian flight operations will resume from May 28 in the state. All passengers are required to submit a self declaration form at the time of arrival. Asymptomatic passengers will be permitted to go with the advice that they will self-monitor for 14 days.
Samples will be collected for covid-19 test from all symptomatic passengers, and will be taken to the nearest health facility. Those, with moderate or severe symptoms, will be admitted to dedicated covid health facilities. Passengers with mild symptoms will be allowed to choose between home or institutional isolation.
Punjab
All passengers returning to Punjab will be tested for covid-19 at Chandigarh International Airport. Every one will have to stay under homw quarantine for 14 days. In case the test comes positive, the person will to be shifted to isolation facility.
Any passenger arriving in Chandigarh to reach his or her home state of Haryana or Himachal Pradesh will be dealt as per the protocol of the recipient state.
Odisha
14-day institutional quarantine for people returning to urban areas in the state and 7-day institutional and 7-day home quarantine in rural areas is mandatory.
Tamil Nadu
In-bound passengers have to register themselves on state-run portal and all asymptomatic passengers to under-go mandatory home quarantine for 14-days.
Mizoram
Passengers travelling to Mizoram will have to obtain prior permission of the state government for air travel and have to undergo a Covid-19 test on arrival and mandatory quarantine for fourteen days.
Jammu and Kashmir
Passengers via rail, road or air to undergo Covid-19 test and will be in administrative quarantine till the test results come back or the patient tests negative.
Persons testing negative for Covid-19 on arrival will also have to be in home quarantine for 14 days.
Chhattisgarh
At least seven-day quarantine either in a government or paid facility. An official communication is still awaited.
Uttar Pradesh
Anyone traveling to Uttar Pradesh will need to register on reg.upcovid.in. They will receive a OTP on their phones, which has to be displayed at the departure gate. People flying into the state will have to stay under home-quarantine for 14 days. A notice also has to be displayed outside the house. People staying in the state for less than a week or travelling onwards are barred from entering areas designated as hotspots.
Uttarakhand
Passengers have to get themselves registered on the government web portal. All the passengers will be kept in institutional quarantine for time period as specified by state government unless they show symptoms which require quarantine in medical facilities.
Inbound passengers will be given a choice to select the institutional quarantine centres of their own, and details of centers and rate will be made available on the website.
Madhya Pradesh
All passengers coming by flights will be scanned for Covid-19 on their arrival at the airport. If anyone is found symptomatic, they will be sent to quarantine and their samples will be collected for testing, and will only be allowed to go once they have tested negative for the virus.
Meghalaya
All the passengers who are coming by flight or train must register on the portal the government portal and confirm their itinerary. No permission will be given to pick up the passengers from the airport. All the passengers will be taken to Shillong or Tura for testing and kept in institutional quarantine for up to 48 hours or till the test results are known. Passengers are supposed to make their travel arrangement from Shillong or Tura.
Tripura
Passengers with foreign travel history in the last 28 days, foreign passport holders and others showing symptoms will be taken to nearby facility to collect samples. They will be kept in the facility till the result is declared.
For asymptomatic passengers who are having a return ticket within 72 hours of arrival will be allowed to go with the advice that they will self-monitor, and inform the officials if they develop any symptoms.
All asymptomatic passengers staying for more than 72 hours and are not from Tripura will have to give samples, their place of stay will be noted down. Random sampling of every fifth passenger will also be done, and will be asked to stay in 14-days home quarantine if found positive.
Telangana
Only 15 departures and arrivals allowed at the Hyderabad airport.
Andhra Pradesh
Airports in Visakhapatnam and Vijaywada to resume operations from May 26, at 20 percent of the approved summer schedule for arrival and departure.
Delhi
No mandatory quarantine, for passengers but the Centre's guidelines have to be followed. Asymptomatic patients to exit with self-monitoring advice for 14 days. Mild symptoms can opt for home isolation, government, or private isolation facility. Those with symptoms will be immediately admitted and tested.
Rush To Book Tickets
Passengers have already booked tickets to and from bigger airports like Mumbai and Kolkata. Nishant Pitti, the founder of online travel aggregator, Easemytrip.com told BloombergQuint that most of these tickets are for travel between May 25 and 31. Travel to and from Kolkata airport accounts for 14.45 percent of all the tickets booked on Easemytrip.com, while 16.81 percent of the tickets are for travel to and originating from Mumbai, Pitti added.
