Mumbai airport caters to over 42,000 flyers in first week of flight resumption

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) catered to a total of 391 flights, including 196 departures and 195 arrivals, in the first week of domestic flights resumption, informed Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) that manages the airport. This involved 42,503 passengers, including 31,665 flyers at departures and 10,838 at arrivals.

The airport operator also informed that from June 1, 2020, GoAir has also started operations with 3 departures and 3 arrival flights on the Patna, Lucknow and Varanasi route. The airline carried 320 passengers at arrivals and 538 passengers at departures from the Mumbai airport.

"Following the mandate by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the State, CSMIA operates 25 commercial passenger flight movements. CSMIA was operating to 14 sectors until Wednesday and saw two sectors - Kolkata and Rajkot - added on Thursday. In the last one week, the passenger load capacity has been the highest on Mumbai-Delhi route with 8,130 passengers departing out of CSMIA," MIAL said in a press statement.

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Ever since the flight resumption, safety aspects and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have become the priority for airport operators. On this front, MIAL says that all relevant measures have been put in place.

"The airport maintenance staff ensures effective sanitisation and disinfection of the entire terminal buildings, including the vital and high touch point areas. Furthermore, the airport continues to undertake severe precautionary measures, including screening of departing passengers, maintaining 2 meters of social distancing, and wearing of masks. The airport has implemented measures to prevent any potential spread of the virus and assure the overall wellbeing of passengers. GVK MIAL continues to work closely with APHO and BMC in their process to curb the spread of the virus and follow all other directives as indicated by the Government of India," the airport operator said.

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Civil Aviation Minister had allowed domestic flight operations to resume from May 25, 2020. But since Mumbai was in a Red Zone, Maharashtra government wasn't keen to allow full-fledged resumption of flights. The state later allowed curtailed operations with a maximum of 50 flights in a day.

The Mumbai airport, which is one of the busiest airports in the country, conducts around 1,000 flights on a normal day. Passengers approaching and leaving the airport, and employees working at the airport had to face a lot of difficulties as public transport in the city wasn't restored even as flight operations resumed. Meanwhile, a large number of passengers also complained of flight cancellations and airlines not being helpful.

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