BHUBANESWAR: Domestic flight services are set to resume to and from the City in adherence to all the standard operating procedures issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Biju Patnaik International Airport Director VV Rao said on Thursday “We are ready to resume scheduled commercial flight operations. Whatever preparedness is required to contain the spread of coronavirus has been taken.” Ensuring social distancing, sanitization of luggage of passengers boarding and deboarding the flights are some of the measures BPIA officials will take.
Touch-free mechanism like web check-in, doing away with stamping of boarding pass, Central Industrial Security Force personnel not physically frisking passengers and using hand-held metal detectors, not allowing passengers to sit next to each other inside the airport and leaving one seat vacant between them are some of the measures to ensure social distancing, said Rao.
Ministry of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said in a tweet, “Operations will start on one-third of the approved summer schedule for domestic routes in a calibrated manner from May 25 and will be scaled up gradually.” After domestic travel has been eased, we will address the issue of international travel depending on the evolving situation, he added. Meanwhile, BPIA officials said they are yet to receive the order to resume the scheduled commercial flight operations.