New Delhi: With India resuming domestic air travel on Monday after over two-month-long coronavirus-induced restrictions, passengers were left in the lurch as a large number of flights were cancelled due to the limit on arrivals and departures by state governments.
Passengers were seen harried across the capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).
One of the air travellers told ETV Bharat here that he had reached the airport three hours before the scheduled departure of his flight to Mumbai but he was told that it was merged with others and the flight would leave in the evening.
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"I came here to catch a flight to Mumbai but I was told that it has been merged with two other flights to the city and it would leave in the evening," he said, adding that by the time his flight takes off, he would have spent at least ten hours at the airport.
"They should have informed me. Also, it's very hot and I had to wait outside for hours. Then, I requested them to allow me in so that I can sit there comfortably," he said, adding that he works in Dubai and was stranded in Delhi due to the lockdown.
"I have spent lots of money on my stay in a hotel here as I could not even go back to my house in Mumbai because of the coronavirus-induced restrictions," he said.
Meanwhile, on the first day of resumption of domestic passenger flight services, the IGIA witnessed over 80 flight cancellations.
According to industry insiders, the IGIA is slated to handle 118 arrival and 125 departure flights on Monday. Similarly, Mumbai's CSMIA will be handling 24 arrivals and 23 departures. It was scheduled to handle over 100 flights, but the state government on Sunday capped this to 25 each.
