Covid-19 force cancellation of 30 Hyderabad flights

At least 30 flights coming in and departing from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here were cancelled on Friday due to various reasons, including a mounting Covid-19 scare and restrictions imposed by other States.

Official sources, confirming that there was an unusually high number of cancellations, said at least 30 flights, including both arrivals and departures from the RGIA, were cancelled till 9 pm, with the number to go up by midnight on Friday. These, the sources said, were mainly flights to and from Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Bengaluru.

One reason was the restrictions imposed on Thursday by the Delhi government on people reaching the national capital



from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, making it mandatory for a 14-day quarantine. The Delhi government had said even those who have been administered both doses or have a negative RT-PCR test report not older than 72 hours will be required to be in home quarantine for seven days.

This, along with the surge in Covid-19 cases in other States and partial lockdowns in some States, saw many passengers calling into cancel their travel plans, leading to airlines themselves then deciding to cancel the flight itself, sources said.

A complete picture of how many flights had to be thus cancelled would emerge after midnight, they added.