Around 170 flights flying in and out of Hyderabad airport have been cancelled between May 7 and May 11 after passengers opted out of travelling at the last minute over new COVID-19 travel rules. According to sources, 30 flights were cancelled on May 7 and 33 flights on May 8. May 9, a Sunday, saw this number increasing to 50 flights. May 10 and May 11 saw 42 and 14 flights being cancelled respectively.
The new travel restrictions imposed by the Delhi government on people coming from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has contributed to the cancellation of many flights. Many other flights that were scheduled to depart for various destinations like Mumbai and Bengaluru, also have been affected or have been witnessing a very low number of passengers after the Telangana government also announced new rules to curb the rising number of cases.
During the last few weeks, the number of domestic air passengers per day across the country have come from more than 2.2 lakh to around 75,000 right now, according to the Civil Aviation Ministry's data. Similarly, international air traffic has also been affected by the second wave of the pandemic across India, as many countries, like the United States have asked their citizens not to travel to India, or have banned those coming from India, like the UAE.
Meanwhile, Telangana is in full lockdown from May 12 to May 21. The state government announced this after the number of cases started increasing steadily, as it is in most other parts of the country.
Times of India also reported that not just flights, even train services to the national capital have been witnessing very few passengers, as not many are willing to travel amid the rising cases. South Central Railway sources told TOI that around 250 passengers who travelled from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been sent to 14-day institution quarantine in Delhi after they failed to procure a COVID-19 negative certificate.