On Sunday Maharashtra Government made a turnaround, just hours after Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackrey said that there would be no resumption in domestic flight operations from Monday, Maharashtra Minorities Affairs Minister Nawab Malik announced that the state authorities agreed to operate 25 flights to and from Mumbai. The aviation ministry had also approved a schedule of flights.“After discussing the issue with all agencies, it has been decided that 25 flights will operate from Mumbai airport. This number will increase slowly,” stated Malik.

CM Uddhav Thackrey was not at all happy with the decision of the Civil Aviation Ministry to resume domestic air travel across India. According to him, the state was not ready for the move and needed more time to prepare for resuming domestic flight services. Also, the State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that it was “extremely ill-advised” to reopen airports in red zones amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Just after the decision of the resumption of domestic flights, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that there was no need for states to quarantine travellers if passengers had Aarogya Setu approval. He further added that Aarogya Setu is like a passport for the flyers.

The Health Ministry on Sunday issued guidelines for domestic flyers. Here are some key points that need to be followed while flying.

  • Passengers are advised to download the Aarogya Setu App.
  • Asymptomatic passengers should be permitted to travel after being asked to self-monitor for 14 days.
  • Dos and Don’ts shall be provided along with tickets to travellers by agencies concerned.
  • During boarding and travel, all passengers are required to use face covers or masks.
  • Travellers are instructed to follow hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene and maintain environmental hygiene.
  • All passengers will undergo thermal screening at the point of departure.
  • Only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to board the flight.

On the first day of the resumption of domestic commercial flights in the country, the two busiest airports Delhi and Mumbai witnessed cancellation of nearly 80 and 20 flights, respectively. Cancellations mostly related to cities from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, which refused allow flight operations.

Maharashtra continues to be worst-affected in the country as it recorded over 3,000 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the state tally to over 50,000 and the death toll in the state rose to 1635.