Bengaluru: After almost two months of hiatus domestic flights resumed from Bengaluru on Monday. The first flight took off at 05:15 am and three hours later an Indigo flight from Chennai landed with 176 passengers on board including three infants.
Some 60 departures and 54 arrivals have been scheduled at the Kempegowda International Airport. Till 9 am, there were 5 arrivals and 16 departures.
However, 32 flights by Indigo, Spice Jet and Vistara to Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Chennai were cancelled due to restrictions put by the respective state governments.
Some passengers criticised the last-minute cancellations on social media.
As required by the standard operating procedure, arriving passengers are referred to quarantine for a mandated period. Those thus quarantined today included a five-year-old boy who travelled alone from Delhi, where he stayed with his grandparents. Vihan Sharma was received by his mother at the airport and sent to home quarantine.
On day 1 of resumption of operations, more than 40 flights that will arrive till the end of the day will be from red zone.
Passengers from high-prevalence states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) will have undergo seven days of institutional quarantine at government-designated hotels. They will be tested on the fifth and seventh day of arrival. If found negative, they will be asked to undergo home quarantine for a week.
For passengers from all other states, the government has mandated home quarantine of 14 days . However, there will be no quarantine for business passengers bringing a negative test report, obtained within two days prior to date of travel, from any Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved lab.
Medical professionals have to undergo home quarantine for 14 days while there will be institutional quarantine of 14 days for members of defence, para-military, railways, Defence Research Development Organisation and other PSUs at designated guest houses or quarantine facility of the concerned organisation.
It is mandatory to download the Aarogya Setu application to one's mobile phone as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) introduced by the state government includes the obtaining of an E-pass from Seva Sindhu portal.
At the departure gate, passenger will have to undergo a thermal scan and show that the Aarogya Setu app on the passenger's phone has the 'You are safe' message. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel will verify the boarding pass government identity cards through a magnified glass screen.
Staff attending to passengers with special needs have been mandated to wear protective gear. While the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has mandated one hand and one checked-in baggage, at the airline bag drop counters, a transparent partition has been installed. The passengers are being assisted by airport staff to discourage them from touching machines.
While there were apprehensions about the passengers consuming paracetamol tablets to bring down the temperature of the body the sources at the officials said that earlier passengers were not caught during the thermal screening for the fear of isolation but now, all the passengers will be put under quarantine.
The employees at the airport who are from Covid-19 hotspot areas are de-rostered and all the stores will be sanitised after every 30 minutes. The passengers at the airport are encouraged to use digital payment.
The terminal sitting will carry the signage that allows the passenger to occupy alternate seats.
