Indian Airports suspend passenger flights

The Indian Government has announced the suspension of all domestic flights from 12:00am IST on March 25th, 2020 until further notice, which brings the operations of all Indian airports to a halt, except for cargo flights. International flights have been banned into India since Sunday, March 22nd, 2020 for a week, subject to changes.

A Vistara A320neo was the last aircraft to land at Delhi. Photo by Karam Sodhi | AeroNewsX.

The last flight to land at Delhi International Airport (DEL/VIDP) was a Vistara Airbus A320neo flying as UK818 from Bengaluru (BLR/VOBL) to Delhi while the last flight to land into Mumbai International Airport (BOM/VABB) was an IndiGo Airbus A320-200 flying as 6E6176 from Kolkata (CCU/VECC) to Mumbai.

All Indian aircraft have been grounded and pilots returned to their respective bases and the aircraft will be put into preservation until normal operations are resumed in the country. Since flights have been canceled and airports shut, even the airport’s helpline numbers will not be active during the lockdown period. Airlines have always battled for slots into India’s largest airports but this time they are battling for parking spaces as airports run out of parking bays and hence need to use the now-empty taxiways and runways. Delhi Airport had shut one of its three runways last week to park grounded planes.

An IndiGo flight was the last to arrive into Mumbai Airport. Photo by Andrew Pries | AeroNewsX.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a twenty one day lockdown on the entire nation in an address on television to the nation on March 24th, 2020, meaning the travel ban may last for three weeks. All other public transport services have already been shut down in India.