With around 380 domestic flights, Delhi airport to resume operations from Monday

As India is set to resume its domestic civil aviation operations from May 25, the Delhi airport will be handling around 380 flights on Monday, a senior official said. As per the directions of the Civil Aviation Ministry, domestic flight operations will resume after remaining suspended for about two months following the nationwide lockdown imposed to constrain the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Delhi airport will be handling around 380 domestic flights on Monday. There will be 190 departures and around 190 arrivals," a senior government official said. On Saturday, the Delhi airport's operator DIAL said it has taken several measures including installation of automatic hand sanitisers at various places, putting floor markers, allocation of entry gates and check-in islands for departing passengers. These steps have been taken to enforce social distancing norms and minimize human contact at the airport, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said. 

In between in a late-night tweet, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh cautioned against the resumption of operations. Anil Deshmukh made it clear that arranging adequate transport under the present circumstances would be difficult and would add to the stress on the red zone. "It's extremely ill-advised to reopen airports in red zone. Mere thermal scanning of the passengers, inadequate w/o swabs. Impossible to have autos/cabs/buses ply in current circumstances. Adding positive passenger will add Covid stress to red zone. #MaharashtraGovtCares," Anil Deshmukh said in a series of tweets.