532 flights operated on the first day of resumption of domestic flights; Andhra Pradesh to resume flights today

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said that 532 domestic passenger flights operated in the country yesterday.

In a tweet on Monday, Puri informed that 39,231 passengers boarded the flights on the first day of operation. One-third of the total domestic commercial flights in the country flew yesterday after almost 61 days of suspension of their operations as a measure to control the spread of infection of COVID-19.

Andhra Pradesh is set to resume flight operations from today, while that of West Bengal from Thursday, May 28, 2020.

The airlines resumed operations after a two-month nationwide lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of the virus.

However, the news agency PTI (Press Trust of India) has quoted that sources from aviation ministry have said that around 630 flights were cancelled on Monday amid restrictions from certain states and limited operations at major airports. Flights were restricted by the governments of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, while operations were limited airports like Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Besides, Puri also tweeted, "Indians soar in the skies again! A beautiful live capture from #flightradar24 shows how our skies look busy again as domestic civil aviation recommences in India from today." In the tweet, he shared a live image by a real-time flight tracking service provider.

The first flight on Monday took off from Delhi for Pune at 4.45 am under strict regulations recommended by civil aviation authorities. The first flight from Mumbai was to Patna at 6.45 am.