Kolkata airport tightens restrictions for travellers; COVID test/vaccine proof mandatory

In an important development, the Kolkata Airport have tightened the restrictions for travellers, announcing on Monday that all flight passengers travelling to West Bengal should carry either a certificate showing they are vaccinated or an RT-PCR negative report tested within 72 hours of travel date. The airport also announced that as per state government directives, restrictions on flight travels are applicable only for Nagpur, Pune and Ahmedabad. 

In an official statement, the airport stated, "As per guidelines of West Bengal Government, all inbound flight passengers to the state shall have to be either fully (doubly) vaccinated or furnish an RT-PCR negative report for a test conducted within 72 hrs of such flight departure."

The statement further added, "Also, as per State Govt directives thrice a week restrictions on flight travels shall be applicable only for cities of Nagpur, Pune and Ahmedabad. Kindly contact the concerned Airline for further details. Above instructions are effective from 01.11.2021."

Domestic Flights In India Allowed To Operate At 100% Capacity 

Meanwhile, as per the Ministry of Civil Aviation announcement on October 18, airlines can operate domestic flights in full capacity. The Civil Aviation Ministry had earlier released a statement permitting the restoration of the scheduled domestic air operations without any restrictions.

The resumption of domestic flights comes after a year-and-a-half hiatus following the outbreak of COVID in 2020. According to an earlier order issued by the ministry, all domestic flights were allowed to operate from September 18 with 85% capacity of their pre-COVID domestic services.

Now, the ministry has lifted all restrictions. The restrictions placed earlier saw airlines operate with 50% capacity as of June 1. The capacity was raised to 65% on July 25 and further increased to 72.5% on August 12. The flight operations had restarted last year on May 25 at 33% capacity after being completely shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Allowing the resumption of airlines with no restrictions on capacity, the ministry informed that all airline services must adhere to the guidelines issued by the government. Airline companies and airport operators were asked to 'ensure guidelines to contain the spread of COVID-19 are strictly adhered to and Covid-appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced', the Jyotiraditya Scindia-led ministry said in its order.