KOLKATA: The embargo on direct flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and three other cities that has been in place since July 6 will be intermittently lifted from September 1. CM Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced that flights from these cities will be allowed three days a week from next month.
“We cannot allow daily movement of flights from these cities as of now,” the CM said at a media briefing while charting out the September lockdown dates when no flights will be allowed to operate to and from the city.
The decision to intermittently lift the embargo will bring much-needed relief to people from Kolkata stranded in these cities as well as abroad. While those with urgent travel requirements have been flying to Kolkata via other cities, it entailed more cost and greater risk of infection. Kolkatans stranded abroad will also be able to now take Vande Bharat flights to Delhi and Mumbai and then fly to Kolkata direct.
Anticipating the lifting of embargo following a communique from Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla to state chief secretaries on the need to lift all restrictions in inter- and intra-state travel, all airlines had opened flight bookings from the six cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad — to Kolkata.
