Liquor baron charters 180-seater plane to fly family of 4 to Delhi

In stark contrast to the arduous trek taken by thousands of jobless and hungry migrant labourers to their home states, a Bhopal-based liquor baron on Thursday (May 28) hired a 180-seater A320 plane of a private carrier to ferry his four family members to New Delhi to avoid the crowd at airports in view of the COVID-19 threat.

According to PTI, the businessman chartered the aircraft to send his daughter, her two children and their maid, who were struck in Bhopal for the past two months, to Delhi.

“The A320 180-seater plane arrived here on May 25 to carry four members of a family, probably due to the coronavirus scare. It was chartered by someone and there was no medical emergency,” an airline official said, refusing to divulge any further details.

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Bhopal’s Rajabhoj Airport Director Anil Vikram could not be contacted for comments, the report said.

The cost of hiring a chartered flight, an Airbus-320 in this case, is around ₹20 lakh.

The central government resumed operation of domestic flights from Monday (May 25) from major airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru among others.

The resumption of air travel services faced hiccups when several flights were cancelled on the first day itself, leaving passengers disgruntled.

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The issue of migrant labourers walking several kilometres home or hitching rides has also been a matter of concern for the government. While some have been lucky to get a ticket aboard government-run Shramik Special trains, many have succumbed to fatigue and hunger during the journey while many others have been killed in road accidents.

(With inputs from agencies)