Flyers stand in a long queue for departure at Patna’s Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport following the … Read More
BRAND-NEW DELHI: Domestic flight had a bumpy liftoff on its resurgence on Monday after 2 months of being grounded, thanks to a currently sanitised first-day schedule being practically cut in half at brief notification to leave hundreds of stranded flyers marooned again in a mess of last-minute coordination between the civilian aviation ministry and states.
The first day saw 532 flights operate, shuttling 39,231 travelers to various destinations. While much of these flights had rows of empty seats, thousands of flyers were left agonising over approximately the very same number of flight cancellations.
The schedule for Monday was finalised after talks between the air travel ministry and some states ended late Sunday night with the choice that some airports like Kolkata, Bagdogra, Vijaywada and Vishakhpatnam will open only later this week while others like Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad would have a s