VISAKHAPATNAM: There has been an increase in domestic passenger flights from Visakhapatnam International Airport, according to airport director Raj Kishore. Speaking to TNIE on Wednesday, he said when flights resumed after lockdown, there were only five flights from Vizag and the number is slowly being increased. With two more flights launching services this week, the number of flights being operated from Vizag will go up to 10. Indigo will operate one more flight to Bengaluru from July 26 whereas it launched another flight to Kolkata on Wednesday. He stated that the DGCA approval has given approval after airport gave its nod for the flights. He said international flights from Vizag will also resume soon.
“In the beginning there were five flights, including four Indigo and one Air Asia. Later, two Air India and one Indigo flight were launched. Now two Indigo flights are being launched. Air Asia has also proposed to introduce one more morning flight to Bengaluru,” he explained. “The focus is on ensuring social distancing, sanitation and contactless travel to keep coronavirus at bay. The flight timings are staggered or spread out to avoid gathering of large number of passengers at any given point of time,” he observed. He said there was no delay in testing of inbound passengers paving way for early clearance.
“As per revised protocols, tests are being conducted for only 10 per cent of air passengers. Now all passengers were being advised 14-day home quarantine instead of institutional quarantine,” he pointed out. He said Visakhapatnam airport achieved distinction of being coronavirus-free for more than six months though it operated over 30 international flights under Vande Bharat Mission and also after resumption of domestic flights. He said their priority is to make Vizag airport safe to travel.
Schedule of new flights
Flight No. 6E6956 will leave Kolkata at 12.10 pm and reach Vizag at 1.40 pm. It is being operated four days in a week from July 22
Flight No. 6E 6955 will leave Vizag at 2.20 pm and reach Kolkata at 3.40 pm
Flight No. 6E7328 will leave Bengaluru at 5 pm and reach Vizag at 7.15 pm