Six-city flight ban ‘at least’ till July 31 -Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha writes to the civil aviation ministry seeking an extension

TT  |   Calcutta   |    18.07.20  :  The ban on domestic flights to Calcutta from six cities with high Covid prevalence, including Delhi and Mumbai, will continue at least till July 31, officials said.

The decision was taken on Friday evening after the state government asked the Centre to extend the ban beyond July 19, the day it was to come to an end.

Earlier in the day, Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha wrote to the civil aviation ministry, seeking an extension of the ban because of the growing number of Covid-19 cases in the state.

“In view of the current situation it is again requested that no flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad be scheduled for Kolkata up to 31 July 2020,” reads the letter addressed to P.S. Kharola, the secretary of the civil aviation ministry.

“We have been informed by the civil aviation ministry about the extension of the ban and have conveyed it to all airlines concerned,” said Kaushik Bhattacharya, the director of the Calcutta airport. 

A state government official said the ban had been extended at least till July 31.

Flights to Calcutta from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Nagpur were suspended on July 6, following a request from the Bengal government, because of a surge in the Covid-19 cases there.

About 25 flights to and from Calcutta are cancelled every day because of the ban, said officials.

The Telegraph reported on Friday that many people had booked tickets on flights between these six cities and Calcutta hoping that the services would resume on Monday.

Most of the airlines said they would not be able to refund money to passengers.

On an average 60 per cent of the seats have been booked for three to four days from Monday.

An official of a private airline said they would offer credit shells to passengers. “They could use the amount to book tickets for any destination in our network,” he said. IndiGo sources said they, too, could offer a similar credit shell.

During the July 6 to 19 ban, the airline had offered a full refund.

“However, with another round of flight ban, it might be difficult to do the same. There are thousands of bookings till July 31. We are discussing our plans,” said an IndiGo official.

Evacuation flights

Emirates airline has proposed to the Calcutta airport that it be allowed to bring in empty flights and return with passengers stranded in the city to Dubai, officials said. The airline had earlier proposed to fly evacuees from Dubai to Calcutta and those stranded in the city back to Dubai.

The state government has told the Centre that evacuation flights would not be allowed to land in Calcutta unless it was ensured that all passengers had booked paid quarantine facilities before boarding the flight.