Kolkata airport gets back to normalcy as flights resume
Flight services at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport have resumed after a temporary suspension due to severe cyclone Dana.
The Kolkata airport authorities today announced the dates in September when flights from ‘Six Covid hotspot cities’ could fly to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport in Kolkata.
A Kolkata airport official today informed that in the first two weeks of September, flights from six cities-Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nagpur- can fly to Kolkata airport on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
On the third and fourth weeks, the flights from these airports can fly to Kolkata on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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The official stated that the flight operations from these cities will be allowed in a limited manner. The airport has also asked all passengers to check for further rescheduling from the airlines concerned.
It is to be noted that the West Bengal government in a bid to curb the spread of the pandemic in the state had appealed to the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) to stop flights from these six cities which according to West Bengal government are Covid hotspots. However, the move has been criticised by several passengers who feel that curbing flights from few selected cities is certainly not a solution since passengers could fly to another city airport which is not under restriction to fly to Kolkata.
Meanwhile, the authorities announced that the airport will remain non-functional to passenger flights in September on 7, 11 and 12, as per the West Bengal government directive since a lockdown will be in place in the state on all these dates.
The domestic air travel though has been placed under restrictions, the airport lately witnessed increase in international flights mainly from Middle East.
The airport recently received flights from Kuwait and Dubai. On 26 August, a GoAir flight arrived at Kolkata airport with 164 passengers from Dubai while a Drukair chartered flight flew in from Paro airport in Bhutan to Kolkata carrying 81 passengers. The same flight returned to Bhutan with 34 passengers.
Airport officials said all Covid protocols are in place at the airport.
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