Kolkata Airport to allow travel from 6 cities after months; no flights on lockdown days

After months of barring flights from six Indian cities with high Coronavirus prevalence, the Kolkata airport on Friday said it will now allow air travel from those cities in a limited manner, following the extension of lockdown in West Bengal till September 20. It has also announced that no flight operations will be permitted on September 7, 11, and 12, when the state will observe complete lockdown as per the directives of the State government.

"Flights from six cities viz Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, and Nagpur will be allowed in a limited manner from September. They will be allowed on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday during the first and second week of September," the Kolkata airport informed in a statement on Twitter.

Furthermore, flights from the above cities will be permitted on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the third and fourth week of September. Passengers are requested to check further schedules with concerned airlines, the airport said.

In June, West Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha wrote to the civil aviation secretary, PS Kharola, urging him to stop domestic flights from high prevalence places to Kolkata. "West Bengal is witnessing a steep rise in cases... Accordingly, I request you not to schedule any flight to Kolkata or Bagdogra from high prevalence places viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad, and Surat for two weeks from July," Sinha said.

Bengal has allowed domestic flights in Kolkata from May 29, soon after nationwide services were resumed. 

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Lockdown extended in Bengal

With the state consistently reporting over 2,500 new Coronavirus cases daily, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced that current lockdown measures will be extended till September 20. As per Bengal's weekly total shutdown, she announced that the state will follow total shutdown on September 7,11 and 12. She added that educational institutes too will remain closed till September 20, amid the ongoing row with the Centre on conducting NEET/JEE (Main) exams.

The COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal jumped to 3,017 on Thursday after 53 more people succumbed to the virus, a bulletin issued by the state's health department said. The caseload scaled past the 1,50,000-mark with 2,997 new infections since Wednesday, it said. The state's coronavirus tally stood at 1,50,772. The discharge rate, however, rose to 80.28 per cent as 3,189 people recovered during the period, the department said. West Bengal now has 26,709 active cases.

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