The civil aviation ministry has suspended flight operations from six cities to Calcutta between July 6 and 19 following the state government’s request to stall flights from these places because of the high number of Covid-19 patients.

Flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad will not operate to Calcutta, airport officials said on Saturday. Twenty-five flights from these cities will be cancelled.

“The temporary restriction on flights reaching Calcutta airport from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad is on the request of the state government to restrict movement from high-prevalence cities of coronavirus cases in order to contain the spread of Covid-19,” an official of Calcutta airport said.

On Tuesday, Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha had written to the Centre, requesting it not to schedule any domestic flight to the state from places that have a high incidence of Covid-19. In the letter, Sinha requested for suspension of flights for two weeks from July 6 from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad and Surat to Calcutta and Bagdogra.

Flights cancelled

Ten flights from Delhi, five each from Mumbai and Chennai, two each from Ahmedabad and Pune and one from Nagpur will be cancelled. But several airlines have planned to operate flights to these cities from Calcutta.

The civil aviation ministry is negotiating with the state government if restrictions can be lifted before July 19, a ministry official said.

“Several airlines have told us that they would operate flights at least to Delhi and Mumbai from Calcutta because there are no restrictions,” the Calcutta airport official said.

Refund policy

IndiGo has said passengers can claim full refund. “In view of the new travel guidelines announced by the government of West Bengal, impacted customers can visit IndiGo website and choose alternative options. In case they wish to cancel, they can claim a full refund,” an IndiGo spokesperson said.

Some airlines will offer credits to passengers who have booked tickets on their flights. This means passengers will be able to book tickets on flights on any other date for any destination, an official of a private airline said.

An Air India official said the airline was still to decide on whether money would be refunded to passengers.

Asked if a passenger would be allowed to travel from these six cities on a hopping flight with a stopover, officials of some airlines said that would not be possible.

“If someone books a ticket to a city from where there is connecting flight to Calcutta, then he/she has to book a fresh ticket to Calcutta. But that will be more expensive and we don’t expect many passengers to do that,” an airline official said.