Amid the increase in passenger traffic, the Civil Aviation Ministry now allows domestic carriers to increase their operations from the current 60% to 70% of approved pre-COVID capacity, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh said Wednesday. Puri.
“Domestic operations resumed with 30,000 passengers on May 25 and reached 2.06 lakhs on November 8,” Puri said in a tweet.
The ministry had said last week that Indian airlines can operate a maximum of 60% of their domestic pre-COVID passenger flights until February 24 of next year due to the prevailing coronavirus situation.
The ministry had informed the airlines of the aforementioned 60 percent cap through an official order on September 2, but had not told them the period during which the cap would remain in effect.
MoCA had resumed domestic 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. On June 26, it increased to 45% and on September 2 it increased further to 60%.
Airlines are now hoping the government will further increase the limit on domestic flights so that they can soon reach their pre-COVID levels, according to reports.
For example, Vistara expects to operate 100 percent of its domestic pre-COVID passenger flights by April next year, its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Vinod Kannan said on Wednesday.
Vistara is currently operating about 55 percent of its pre-COVID regular domestic passenger services.
Additionally, SpiceJet said it is currently operating 52 percent of its domestic pre-COVID flights.
Scheduled international passenger flights remain 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.
Furthermore, according to a PTI report, the ministry had said last week that the limit on the number of domestic flights that Indian airlines can operate would be increased to 70-75% from its pre-COVID levels.
With inputs from agencies
.
