Day 2 of flight resumption: Over 42,000 ferried; 2 test Covid-19 positive

The air carriers also resorted to cancellation of several flights on the second day of resumption of services due to truncated schedules following requests from several states owing to the coronavirus

Domestic airlines ferried nearly 42,000 passengers on 325 flights till 5 pm on Tuesday on the second day of resumption of services.Two travellers were tested positive for coronavirus, perhaps the first time since the flights resumed, while an AirAsia flight carrying 74 people made an emergency landing in Hyderabad.

The air carriers also resorted to cancellation of several flights on the second day of resumption of services due to truncated schedules following requests from several states owing to the coronavirus crisis posing difficulties to hundreds of passengers at several airports. The number of cancellations was not immediately available though Tuesday’s passenger load indicated more travellers taking to flights compared to Monday.

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Airlines also began operating from Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday while flights will resume in West Bengal from Thursday that is expected to increase the passenger traffic. Officials said several of the flights operated on Monday were half empty.

IndiGo airline said one of the passengers who travelled on its Chennai-Coimbatore flight on Monday evening has tested positive for Covid-19. The low-cost carrier said the passenger was sitting with all precautionary measures like gloves, mask and face shield and he is currently quarantined at a Coimbatore medical facility.

Coronavirus: Air India, IndiGo join global peers to suspend China flights

The airlines saw a large number of cancellations impacting loads.

Air India and IndiGo joined their global peers British Airways, Lion Air and Lufthansa in announcing temporary suspension of their China flights, as India clamped down on travel to stop the outbreak of coronavirus.

Air India said Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flight has been cancelled from January 31 to February 14, while IndiGo is suspending its Delhi-Chengdu and Bengaluru-Hong Kong flight from February 1-20. IndiGo, however, will continue to operate its Kolkata-Guangzhou flight. Air India has also decided to cut the frequency of its daily Delhi-Hong Kong flights to thrice per week from January 31 to February 14. Bookings on the routes slumped in the last few days as businesspeople postponed their tours. The airlines saw a large number of cancellations impacting loads.

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In a statement, IndiGo said it has taken the decision after a careful assessment of the situation. “These are purely temporary and precautionary measures. We understand that the measures will cause inconvenience to our customers and we be refunding the full amount to impacted passengers.”

“For now we will continue to operate our Kolkata-Guangzhou flight which we are monitoring on a daily basis. As for our operating crew we are ensuring they return to India on inbound flights without any layover in China.”