More than 80 flights cancelled as chaos and confusion surrounds airports

As domestic flights resumed at several airports across India this morning after two months since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed, there was confusion and chaos at airports in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities as a large number of flights were cancelled and passengers complained that they did not get any notification from the airlines.

82 flights to and from Delhi were cancelled, with angry passengers at Terminal 3 of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport claiming that they were not informed till the last minute.

Airport officials said the cancellations are on account of several states telling the centre that they will not be able to operate flights agreed upon earlier. The Delhi airport will handle a total of 125 departures and 118 arrivals today.

Similar scenes were witnessed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, with several passengers seen sitting outside the airport after their flights were cancelled.

While a flight to Pune was the first to take off from Delhi at 4:45 AM, a Patna-bound flight was the first to take off from Mumbai at 6:45 AM. The Mumbai airport, the country's second busiest airport, will handle 50 flights daily - 25 incoming and 25 outgoing.

"We were going to Delhi. We were told when we arrived here that the flight has been cancelled. One of the customer care employees told us that there is a flight that runs tonight and that may be, we have been rescheduled. But nothing is confirmed yet," a woman, sitting on her suitcase, reveals a passenger.

Long queues were seen outside the departure terminal in Mumbai, with passengers taking longer than usual to enter the airport as security personnel had to do thermal screening as well as check if each passenger had downloaded the Aatogya Setu app on their mobile phone.