Airports handle 62,641 flyers on second day of resumption of flights after lockdown

New Delhi: The Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday (May 27, 2020) that the Indian airports handled 62,641 flyers on the second day of resumption of domestic passenger flights after the COVID-19 halt.

There were 445 departures and 447 arrivals besides the 6 departures that were rescheduled.

The Minister said, "Our skies and airports are busy again. On 26th May, the 2nd day of recommencement of domestic passenger flights in India our airports handled 62,641 flyers on 445 departures & 447 arrivals."

He added that all airport functioning was smooth.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hardeep informed that over 58,318 passengers flew to their destination on the first day of the passenger flight resumption and there were around 832 flights that operated on Monday.

The domestic passenger flights resumed operations on Monday (May 25) after it was halted for almost two months due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The operations in Andhra Pradesh started yesterday (May 26) whereas, West Bengal will restart passenger flight operations from May 28.

Meanwhile, there were 579 'Lifeline Udan' flights and 927 tons of medical and essential cargo were transported over 5,37,085 km in two months of its operation till May 26.

The Lifeline Udan flights are being operated since March 26, 2020, to transport the essential medical cargo to remote parts of India amid the COVID-19 lockdown.