New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday that the domestic aviation sector is almost witnessing the return of pre-coronavirus figures with 1.16 lakhs of passengers flying on Thursday.
“Domestic civil aviation operations continue smoothly. With 1,16,398 passengers on September 17, 2020, we are slowly flying towards Pre-COVID numbers. More than 9.1 million passengers have flown since operations resumed on May 25, 2020, “Puri said.
The Civil Aviation Ministry said that a total of 2,759 flight movements were carried out across the country on September 17 and that more than 2.33 lakhs of footfall were recorded at airports across the country on September 17.
1,376 flight arrivals took place across the country on Sept. 17, the ministry said.
The Airports Authority of India said on Twitter that a total of 31,861 passengers flew across the country from northern India on September 17, making it “one of the progressive days” for airports in the region. north of AAI since the resumption of domestic flights on May 25.
AAI also said that more than 9,400 passengers traveled through airports in the northeast region via 114 flights on September 17.
The government earlier this month had allowed airlines to sell seats up to 60% of their capacity on domestic flights.
The aviation sector has been significantly affected due to travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
All the airlines in India have taken cost cutting measures like pay cuts, unpaid leave or layoffs of employees to save cash.
Air India has incurred a net loss of approximately ₹Rs 2,570 crore in Q1 2020-21 compared to a net loss of ₹785 crore sustained in the corresponding period one year ago.
India’s largest airline IndiGo reported in July a net loss of ₹Rs 2,884.3 crore for the first quarter of 2020-21. IndiGo currently has a share of around 60% in the domestic air passenger market.
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