Lesser flights, more cancellations and quarantines await flyers as airlines start operations from today

Airlines will resume operations in a limited manner from Monday after the centre and some states climbed down a little from their respective positions after days of hard bargaining.

The centre cut down more flights from the original schedule the airlines announced last week forcing them to cancel extra flights leaving open the possibility of disputes with passengers over refunds. States like Maharashtra agreed to permit limited flight operations after initially asking for more time.

In a meeting with airline chiefs late on Sunday evening, officials at India’s civil aviation ministry said airlines can only operate 25 departures out of the Mumbai airport. This makes a total of 50 flight movements, less than a fourth of the flight schedule approved by the Centre on Thursday and a tenth of the usual number of daily flights Mumbai used to handle before the Coronavirus crisis. Flights to Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam and Vijaywada have also been cut.