Flights to Kolkata Banned from 6 Coronavirus Hotspots

The Unlock Bharat initiative has begun with the centre and state governments gradually reopening state borders, and laying down safety guidelines and protocols to follow. 

However, due to rising number of coronavirus cases, Kolkata has opted to take a step back right now. The civil aviation ministry has decided to suspend flights to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Chennai and Ahmedabad from July 6 to July 19, 2020.

It is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi,Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur,Chennai & Ahmedabad from 6th to 19th July 2020 or till further order whichever is earlier. Inconvenience caused is regretted.@AAI_Official @MoCA_GoI @ushapadhee1996 @HardeepSPuri @arvsingh01

— Kolkata Airport (@aaikolairport) July 4, 2020

This decision was taken after West Bengal’s Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha sent a request to the centre for banning  flights from several hotspots. Sinha stated that Bengal was witnessing a sharp increase in coronavirus numbers and a large number of cases were being found among people coming from other states. 

The state had also requested reducing the frequency of flights to one flight per week per route for all other cities. However, a decision on that has been not been taken, yet.

The move will cause a lot of inconvenience to people who were planning to travel in or out of Kolkata, and had already bought tickets. It looks like unpredictability is here to stay for a while as it's all a developing situation.