Mumbai's T1 domestic airport opens on Wednesday; five airlines to resume operations

Mumbai: The city airport has said five domestic airlines will be operating 102 flights to 27 destinations on day one of the resumption of flight operations from Terminal-1 on Wednesday.The operations from T1, which serves domestic passengers, remained suspended even after a restart of domestic air services in the country on 25 May last year following a two-month suspension of air services in late March to contain the pandemic.As of now, all operations — domestic and international (under various special initiatives) — at Mumbai airport is being carried out from Terminal 2 (T-2).The resumption of services from T1 will help maintain social distancing measures, uphold passenger safety, and ensure a seamless transit, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) said in a statement on Monday.After closing operations in March last year due to the pandemic, CSMIA's T1 will resume operations after almost a year with a total of 51 flights at departure and 51 at arrivals, it said in a statement.The terminal will cater to all domestic flight operations of Go Air, Star Air, Air Asia and Trujet, the private airport operator said.Furthermore, select flights of IndiGo with subset series 6E 5500 6E 5900, will operate to and from T1, while the rest will continue to operate from Terminal 2, it added.The airport will have 38 check-in counters operational across the five domestic carriers to avoid crowding, it said.CSMIA has also placed eight Common Use Self Service (CUSS) kiosks on the curbside of the terminal to enable passengers to complete their check-in process without direct interaction with airport personnel, the statement said, adding that passengers can use the kiosks to print their boarding pass and generate their baggage tag before proceeding for security check.T1 will also host registration desks and six testing booths where passengers can opt to undergo the RT-PCR test at the airport for a minimal cost of Rs 850, it added.