New Delhi: Indian skies will open up for domestic passenger flights from Monday after a gap of two months but there was confusion following imposition of own set of conditions and rules by several states which are at odds with each other.
Many states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu were opposed to opening up of their airports in view of rising cases of the coronavirus infection, making it difficult for the airlines as well as the civil aviation authorities to resume services.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are home to some of the busiest airports in terms of passenger traffic. State's Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Twitter on Sunday that it is 'extremely ill-advised' to reopen airports in red zones.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she will urge the Centre to postpone resumption of domestic flight services at Kolkata and Bagdogra airports by a few days.
On Sunday afternoon, AirAsia India said on Twitter that all passengers must read the health protocols of the destination states and it would "not be responsible for repatriating or bearing any quarantine or related costs of any guests".
In the midst of uncertainty and confusion, representatives of airline and several states held multiple meetings with top officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry on Sunday covering a range of contentious issues like quarantine rules for flyers and standard operating procedures for leading airports, officials said.
The focus of the deliberations was to have uniform quarantine rules following announcement of separate conditions by various state governments. However, it is not immediately clear whether uniform quarantine rules as envisaged could be finalised in the meetings.
The government last week announced resumption of the domestic flight services from May under specific rules and guidelines like cap on ticket pricing, wearing of face masks by passengers, no food served on board planes and making available details of medical conditions by travellers through Aarogya Setu app or by filling up of a self declaration form.
The government's decision came as the aviation sector was reeling under severe stress triggered by the coronavirus lockdown that began on March 25.
However, many states expressed serious reservations to the Centre's decision to start the flight services. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Punjab, Assam and Andhra Pradesh have announced their respective quarantine measures for passengers arriving at their airports.
Some states decided to put passengers on mandatory institutional quarantine while several others talked about putting them under home quarantine. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday questioned the need for quarantine if a passenger is shown green status in Aarogya Setu app. The green status signifies that a passenger is safe.
However, as the states remained adamant on the matter, the central government is trying to create coherence in quarantine rules for flyers, officials said.
They said bookings have been opened for around 1,050 domestic flights that will operate on Monday. Several executives from a number of airlines said since Mumbai airport and Kolkata airport handle a significant share of domestic flights, the operators are expecting the Centre to clarify the "prevailing confusion" relating to quarantine.