Flight operations at Kolkata Airport to remain suspended for 7 days in August

Kolkata: Flight operations at the Kolkata airport will remain suspended on multiple days in August due to rising coronavirus cases in the state. As mentioned by the Kolkata Airport Authority - "Flight operations at Kolkata Airport will remain suspended on following lockdown days as announced by West Bengal Govt: 5th, 8th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th & 31st August 2020."

The passengers are requested to contact concerned airlines for changes in the flight schedule.

It may be noted that the state government had on Wednesday written a letter to the Centre urging it to suspend all flight operations in the state on days of complete lockdown in August due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

The West Bengal government earlier decided to impose a biweekly complete lockdown in the state to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission. The Kolkata Airport was also shut on July 25 and 29, amid the total lockdown in place across the state.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on July 28 said the decision on biweekly total lockdown till August end was taken after consulting experts to check the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the state. Total lockdown will be in place on August 5, 8, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 31, she had said.

A couple of weeks back, the ban on passenger flights to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad was extended till July 31. The ban by the Kolkata Airport comes after aviation regulator DGCA extended the suspension of scheduled international passenger flights in the country till indefinite period.

After nearly two months of suspension to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the government resumed scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25. However, it had allowed airlines to operate a maximum of 33% of their pre-COVID flights. The MOCA increased the limits on June 26 from 33% to 45%.

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• Flight operations
• Kolkata Airport
• suspended
• West Bengal