Omicron scare halts starting of new air service

Aurangabad, Dec 28:

If the sources are to be believed, the growing Omicron scare has delayed starting of flight services to new destinations. Hence, the air passengers will now have to wait till the situation restores normalcy. One aircraft was planning to start a new plane Mumbai-Aurangabad-Mumbai, but the decision has been stalled due to the rise of new a variant in and around the district.

Earlier, the flight services had been restored after the second wave of the pandemic situation. A rise in the number of air passengers was also recorded in the last few days.

Presently, Air India and IndiGo were operating six flights from Chikalthana airport. Hence the city was connected to Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad through the air. The services on these routes were stopped during the pandemic situation, but restored in phases after the situation retained normalcy. In early December, one flight to Delhi was introduced during morning hours. It is the lone flight operating in the morning slot, the rest all are operated in the evening hours. In the meantime,

one airline held an inspection to operate an Aurangabad-Mumbai flight during morning hours. Its decision was expected to be taken in December. Now, the decision has been delayed for an indefinite period, said the sources.

Aurangabad was also connected with Bengaluru and Ahmedabad through the air before the pandemic situation. The services were disrupted with the advent of Covid-19. The Civil Aviation Committee of Aurangabad Tourism Development Foundation (ATDF) had pursued consistently to introduce air services on these two routes.