For the first time since the resumption of domestic flights, the airports authority has increased the number of departure and arrival movements within the State. On Friday, 58 flights were handled at Chennai airport. For Saturday too, the airport has drawn up a schedule that shows there will be 58 flights —29 arrivals and 29 departures.
When the Centre announced that domestic flights would resume on May 25, the State government said that only 25 flights would be allowed into the city, considering the huge spike in the number of COVID-19 cases. Hence, for three weeks now, the number of departure and the arrival flights had not crossed 25 each.
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said they had received approval from the State government to increase the number of flights within the State. “The addition of eight aircraft movements that we see is an increase to cities within the State like Madurai and Tuticorin. The number of flights from other cities including Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata or Bangalore have not gone up. So, we have been cautious and maintaining the number of flights to those cities outside the State,” an official said.
For instance, there had been only two flights to Madurai and one to Thoothukudi for the last few days but on Friday, there were three flights from Madurai and two to Thoothukudi. “There are still many who have been stranded here and those wanting to come here,” another official said.
Officials said there might be a gradual rise in the number of flights in and out of the city in the near future.
