In a bid to ferry stranded people across the country, national carrier Air India will operate special domestic flights from different cities, including Kochi, from May 19 to June 2. The ticket booking, through the Air India website, will start after getting the nod from Ministry of Civil Aviation. These flight services will be out of bounds for people having COVID-19 symptoms.
The special flights include services from Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi and back. There is also a Kochi-Chennai flight.
Kerala flights (probable departure time in brackets):
May 19: Kochi-Chennai (9pm)
May 20: Mumbai-Kochi (4.45am), Kochi-Mumbai (8:15am)
May 20: Mumbai-Kochi (10pm)
May 21: Kochi-Mumbai (1am)
May 22: Delhi-Kochi (9:40am), Kochi-Delhi (2pm)
May 25: Delhi-Kochi (5:45am), Kochi-Delhi (10am)
May 25: Delhi-Kochi (7:10pm), Kochi-Delhi (11:30pm)
No regular train service until further notice
It will take some more time for the regular passenger trains to be back on track though the railways will be running ‘Shramik’ trains and special trains to carry people stranded in various places back home. The railways had suspended all trains services, including sub-urban trains, till May 17, the day the lockdown is scheduled to end. But the regular train services will not resume until further notice.
The tickets reserved, which were booked earlier, till June 30 will be completely refunded, and there will be waiting lists for special trains running after June 22. The railways are geared up to operate 300 ‘Shramik’ trains daily.
