With the number of passengers travelling to China from the city dwindling following the outbreak of coronavirus in that country, China Eastern Airlines has decided to suspend its flights between Kolkata and Kunming temporarily, sources said.
The airline has decided to suspend its flights between the two destinations from February 10 to February 29, sources in NSCBI airport here said on Friday.
Director of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport in Kolkata, Kaushik Bhattacharjee, however, told PTI that the airline has decided to operate four flights between Kolkata and Kunming instead of eight per week.
It operates two flights from the city on Saturdays.
According to the sources, the Shanghai-based airline had initially decided to operate four flights a week instead of eight. But after closely monitoring the situation following the outbreak of the deadly disease, it has decided to suspend its flights between Kolkata and Kunming till the end of this month.
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The number of passengers flying in from China has gone down over the last few days, Bhattacharjee said on Friday.
On an average 400 passengers fly to Kolkata from China and Hong Kong daily. The figure has halved at present, the airport director said.
An verage 1,600 passengers travel to Kolkata from four destinations such as Bangkok, Singapore, China and Hong Kong daily. It has come down to 1,200 now, he added.
The number of passengers from China to Kolkata has dwindled over the last few days after e-visa facility for Chinese travellers was temporarily suspended, Bhattacharjee said.
India on February 2 temporarily suspended the facility for Chinese travellers and foreigners residing in China in view of the coronavirus outbreak which has claimed over 630 lives so far.
The airport director said that four aerobridges have been designated at Kolkata airport to handle passengers coming from places where people have been infected with coronavirus.
Aerobridges 8, 9, 10 and 11 are being used to handle flights coming to Kolkata from Kunming and Guangzhou in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, Bhattacharjee said.
He said, a total 12,758 passengers (arrival) have been through thermal screening since January 17 and so far no passenger has tested positive for the disease.
Low cost carier IndiGo has temporarily suspended its flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from February 6.
"In line with the WHO guideline to contain the spread of coronavirus, IndiGo will be suspending its Kolkata-Guangzhou service from February 6, 2020 to February 25, 2020 and Guangzhou-Kolkata from February 7 till February 26," the airline had said in a statement.
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