Kolkata Blocks Flights From 6 Cities To Control COVID-19

Authorities of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport took to Twitter on Saturday to inform a ban on flights coming from 6 Indian cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Nagpur- from 6 July to 19 July or until further orders, in light of the COVID-19 situation.

"It is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai & Ahmedabad from 6th to 19th July 2020 or till further order whichever is earlier. Inconvenience caused is regretted," the Airports Authority of India (AAI)-operated Kolkata Airport said in its tweet.

The announcement comes after the chief secretary of West Bengal, Rajiv Sinha, wrote to Pradeep Singh Kharola, the secretary of civil aviation ministry in a letter on 30 June requesting not to schedule flights from cities that have high COVID-19 cases like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad and Surat to Kolkata and Bagdogra airports for a fortnight starting 6 July.

While domestic flights were allowed to resume operations in India on 25 May, after two months of suspension, West Bengal had allowed flight services to resume on 28 May, as the state witnessed Cyclone Amphan.