NEW DELHI To further ease restrictions, the government on Wednesday allowed Indian airlines to increase the number of domestic passenger flights to 60% of their pre-COVID services, according to an official order.
On June 26, the Civil Aviation Ministry had allowed airlines to operate a maximum of 45% of their domestic flights prior to COVID.
The ministry had restarted national passenger services as of May 25, after a two-month gap due to the lockdown caused by the coronavirus.
However, airlines were allowed to operate no more than 33% of their domestic pre-COVID flights.
Modifying its previous order of June 26 where it had put a 45% limit on the number of domestic flights, the ministry issued an order on Wednesday stating that “45% of capacity can be read as 60% of capacity.”
The average occupancy rate on domestic flights since its resumption in India on May 25 has been around 50-60% only.
Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in the country since March 23 due to the pandemic.
However, special international flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble pacts signed with several countries since July.
India’s COVID-19 case count topped 37 lakh on Wednesday with 78,357 new cases of the disease reported in one day, the Union Health Ministry said. The death toll rose to 66,333 and 1,045 more deaths were reported in 24 hours.
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