The initiative came after the directive issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) giving a green signal to recommence all scheduled international flights operations
Ahead of summer season, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) ushered in to welcome international passengers on board. Starting midnight of March 27, 2022, CSMIA resumed approx. 238 commercial international passenger flight movements. The initiative came after the directive issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) giving a green signal to recommence all scheduled international flights operations. This move from the ministry came as a result of covid cases hitting new lows daily, coupled with the increase in vaccination rate among passengers, further boosting travelers’ immunity and motivation to travel by air.
After nearly two years, first international scheduled flight arrived in CSMIA from Sharjah at 00:17hrs while first flight departed to Phuket at 00:29hrs. On an average approx. 150 passenger flight movements are expected daily post resumption of scheduled commercial international flights at CSMIA. With this development, CSMIA now caters to 05 new international destinations such as Baghdad, Warsaw, Moscow, Helsinki, Ho Chi Minh city (Hanoi), whereas few of its destinations such as New York (JFK), Seoul and Tashkent have discontinued operations due to the Covid-19 impact. Dubai, Jeddah, Bangkok & Abu Dhabi have ranked amongst the highest in the number of flight movements from CSMIA. From 27th March 2022, all international passengers are required to show only their vaccination certificates to travel internationally, while those without a double vaccination certificate would require a negative RTPCR test report taken not less than 72 hours prior to boarding the flight. Whereas for passengers departing from Mumbai will continue to abide by the norms laid down by the destination country.
With summer around the corner and passenger footfall soon reaching pre-covid levels, CSMIA endeavors to provide a seamless travel experience to all passengers commuting through the airport with adhering to mandated covid norms and regulations
According to a report by ICRA, the decline in Omicron wave has resulted in the growth of domestic air passengers by around 19% with approx. 7.6 million passengers in February 2022 in comparison to January 2022 where approx. 6.4 million passenger traffic was recorded. Being one of the busiest airports and a prominent gateway of the country, CSMIA in compliance with BMC, Government and Airport Health Organization (APHO), has undertaken several measures and has various contingencies in place, in order to facilitate a smooth and convenient travel to all the passengers. CSMIA prioritizes and upholds the wellbeing of its passengers from the start of time and continues to ensure maintenance and safety at the airport. In addition, CSMIA has requested for additional Immigration staff to cater to the increased international flights and pax loads. Besides, the airport has also restarted the International to Domestic recheck in facility and International to International transit facility.
CSMIA in its constant endeavour to be a Gateway to Goodness, is inching towards becoming an avenue of best-in-class lifestyle experiences with plenty of options such as top retail and FnB outlets, spa, salon, comfy lounge, Pranaam services amongst others. Passengers before the commencement of their journey can relax and spend quality time exploring different outlets at CSMIA, thus marking the beginning of their trip on a memorable note. With summer around the corner and passenger footfall soon reaching pre-covid levels, CSMIA endeavors to provide a seamless travel experience to all passengers commuting through the airport with adhering to mandated covid norms and regulations.
*********************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com