Flights from Mumbai-Delhi curtailed: Restrictions announced on Sunday are not as sweeping as those imposed in 2020

The letter requested the civil aviation ministry to inform all airlines of the decision

Sanjay Mandal   |   TT |  Calcutta   |  03.01.22: The Bengal government has restricted flights from Delhi and Mumbai to airports in Bengal to Mondays and Fridays from January 5.

“Flights from Mumbai and Delhi will operate two days a week from January 5. Flights from Mumbai and Delhi will operate on Mondays and Fridays,” Bengal chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi said on Sunday while announcing the revised restrictions for the state. Later, the state government formally informed the civil aviation ministry of the restrictions, officials said.

“This is to inform that in view of the rising number of Covid cases, the state government has decided that with effect from January 5, 2022, all incoming domestic flights from Mumbai and Delhi to West Bengal will be temporarily allowed only twice a week on Monday and Friday until further orders,” said a letter from Bengal home secretary B.P. Gopalika to Rajiv Bansal, the civil aviation secretary.

The letter requested the civil aviation ministry to inform all airlines of the decision.

According to officials, there will be no restrictions on the number of flights from Mumbai and Delhi on the two days.

“Now, we have 25 flights from Delhi and 15 from Mumbai every day,” said C. Pattabhi, director of Calcutta airport. Restrictions that are already in place for flights to Bengal from Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad will continue. Flights from these cities can arrive thrice a week. Earlier, the state government had stopped direct flights from the UK to Calcutta. Flights from Calcutta to the UK can operate," airport officials said.

The restrictions announced on Sunday are not as sweeping as those imposed in 2020. On July 6, 2020, Bengal had stopped all flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nagpur. From September 1 that year, flights from all these cities were allowed thrice a week.

From December 2020, flights from Delhi were again allowed daily. Daily flights from Mumbai and Chennai were allowed from October last year. But the restrictions on flights from Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad were retained.

Airline officials, bracing for large-scale cancellations and re-bookings on the two busy routes, said it would be difficult to operate one-way flights daily from Bengal to Mumbai and Delhi.

“We can operate the flights only when we are able to schedule the aircraft on another route. Otherwise, we will have to cancel the flights,” an airline official said.