Indian carriers Air India and Vistara rescheduled their flights from the UK to be able to return to India in time to comply with the ban on air travel from the island nation effective from from Tuesday midnight.
Air India rescheduled its Mumbai-London-Cochin flight, and operated its flights between the UK capital and Ahmedabad and Delhi as per schedule, according to an airline spokesperson.
The arrival time for Vistara's UK 18 flight was also advanced to 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday. The government on Monday announced a ban until December 31 on all flights to and from London to curb the entry of a new strain of coronavirus found in the UK.
In response to queries on whether there would be bans on other countries where a mutant strain similar to the one in the UK was found, a government official said no decision has been taken on the matter.
The government has also issued a directive to suspend flights from Oman and Saudi Arabia till December 29. Air India posted on Twitter that it will offer passengers booked to travel during this period a one-time free rescheduling of their bookings till December 31 next year. The withdrawal of flights to Saudi Arabia and Oman follow their governments' decision to restrict international flights.
Despite the night curfew imposed in Mumbai till January 5, 2021,all operations at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) will continue as scheduled, the airport operator said in a statement.
“Passengers travelling to and from the airport during the specified hours will be allowed to proceed onwards as cab services and public transportation will remain operational at all time,” it said.
While on Monday the airport received four flights — one from Amsterdam and three from London carrying over 690 passengers — on Tuesday no flights operated to and from London. Five flights had arrived from Dubai and eight departed to Dubai and one departed for Doha.
CSMIA said all passengers now arriving from the Middle East and European countries, irrespective of their further travel plans, will be subjected to mandatory institutional quarantine and any passenger identified as being symptomatic on arrival will be transferred to designated COVID facility for further evaluation.
“Passengers arriving from these regions will be transported by state officials to nearby hotels of their preference to undergo institutional quarantine for seven days at their own cost,” it said.
As per the guidelines, instead of undergoing a test at the airport, passengers will have to undergo the RT-PCR test during the 5th-7th day of the institutional quarantine at the hotel at their own cost.
“Passengers with a negative test report will be discharged to observe home quarantine for 7 days. Passengers with a positive report will be directed to continue to quarantine at the same hotel or in a state-designated COVID-19 facility for 14 days,” it added.
Options for flyers
IndiGo airline has upgraded its Plan B options on the website and mobile app to allow customers whose connecting flight has been cancelled, to either rebook partially — i.e., from origin till transit station or from transit station to destination — or take refund for the unused sector.
MCGM exemptions
For passengers arriving in Maharashtra by international flights from Europe and Middle East, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has exempted pregnant women in advanced stage of pregnancy and those who have death in immediate family from seven days compulsory institutional quarantine. The nodal officer will decide on the spot.
“The decision will be taken at the airport after arrival on verification with proof of documents,” MCGM said in a circular.
Transit passengers booked for destinations outside Maharashtra will be allowed to proceed if they have conducted RT-PCR test within 72 hours and results are found to be negative. In the absence of that they need to undergo this test at the airport itself after arrival.
“Only after the results are received negative he/she will be allowed to proceed to the final destination.” MCGM said in a notification.
It has asked the airport operator to prepare the list of transit passengers and inform to the nodal officer and and Chief Secretary of the destination state for necessary action. It said the passenger will be allowed to transit through domestic air transit only.
“If the RT-PCR test turns out to be positive, the passenger shall be admitted into MCGM hospital. And passengers allowed to transit to final destination out of Maharashtra shall be stamped on the hand as “Transit Passenger from Europe/Middle East,” the circular issued on Tuesday said.
(With inputs from Lalatendu Mishra)
