Chennai-Thoothukudi flight service resumes

Chennai-Thoothukudi flight service resumes

27/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,TIRUNELVELI

After two months, the Chennai-Thoothukudi flight landed at Thoothukudi airport with 42 passengers on Tuesday.

As COVID – 19-induced lockdown led to the suspension of all flight services across the country, Thoothukudi lost its air connectivity with Chennai with the suspension of 5 services a day. Moreover, the port town also lost its lone flight service to Bengaluru. Though the government had announced that the flight service would resume from May 25 when the lockdown was relaxed, the Chennai – Thoothukudi service for Monday was cancelled in the eleventh hour, much to the agony of the passengers.

Against this backdrop, Indigo’s flight that left Chennai at 11 a.m. landed at Thoothukudi on Tuesday at 12.40 p.m. with 42 passengers, who were screened at the airport itself by a medical team. After stamping ‘isolation’ marker seal on their hands, 41 passengers were allowed to go home with ‘kabasura kudineer’ concoction powder. All of them have been advised to be in ‘home-quarantine’ for two weeks.

Blood and throat swab samples were collected from the lone passenger from Gujarat, who was taken to the isolation ward after preliminary screening.

Following medical screening, 52 passengers boarded the Chennai-bound flight at 1.25 p.m. under the supervision of Collector Sandeep Nanduri and Thoothukudi Airport Director N. Subramanian.

Mr. Sandeep, before leaving the airport, said there would be flight service between Chennai and Thoothukudi on alternate days till May 31 and this schedule would be revised from June 1 onwards.