Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jun 2: The lockdown has been casting a serious effect on the operations of flights. Covid19, like other sectors, has also delivered a deadly blow to the air traffic sector. On Tuesday June 1, Mangaluru airport witnessed the operation of a single passenger aircraft.

In normal course, 22 flights are operated through the international airport here including international flights. Even in the face of lockdown, the airport here usually sees a minimum of five to six flights taking off. But on Tuesday, only one flight, bound for Mumbai, was operated. The other flight to have taken to sky from here was a transport carrier bound for Dubai. The number of air passengers, it is learnt, has dwindled substantially.

Mangaluru International Airport (file photo)

The ministry of civil aviation had directed all the airports in the country to operate only 50 percent of the scheduled flights beginning from June 1. Sources said that as a result, only one flight was operated from here.

The other reason is that different states have made it mandatory for the passengers to be in possession of RT-PCR negative reports before stepping into the airports. Many of the passengers usually travel for business. With the business touching the nadir, automatically the number of travellers has plummeted. For about a week now, two to three flights were being operated from here to different destinations, but on Tuesday, only one flight was operated, sources said.

Seats for flights to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and other cities can be booked from here as per online booking information. But the chances of the flights getting cancelled at the last minute for want of enough passengers are more. There is hope of the flights might pick up after a week, as the Covid19 cases are gradually coming down now.

After the airport here was entrusted to Adani group, it was expected that the concern might take aggressive steps to attract more passengers but nothing of this kind has happened so far. The airport here slipped down by two slots in the list of airports with busy passenger traffic. Even though some argue that this has happened because of Covid 19 infection, many point out that other cities too are affected the same way. In comparison, neighbouring Kannur airport in Kerala has been showing good performance. In the social media, discussions are often witnessed about the current state of Mangaluru airport.