Civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri on Wednesday said domestic flight operations were picking up as the centre has allowed flights’ capacity to increase to 60 percent.
“Soaring Higher! Domestic Operations on 3rd September 2020, Day 103 till 2359 hrs. Departures stood at 1156 with 1,20,388 passengers handled and arrivals ar1156 with 1,20,269 passengers handled,” Puri tweeted.
He added that the footfall at airports stood at 2,40,657 with total number of flyers at 1,20,388.
“When we resumed civil aviation operations, the country witnessed domestic traffic of around 30,000 passengers and now slowly it has increased to nearly 120,000 passengers,” Puri had said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The civil aviation ministry on Wednesday announced increasing the limited domestic flight operations from 45 percent to 60 percent.
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“After the review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demands for air travel in terms of the purpose specified in the initial order (01/2020) dated 21.05.2020, condition laid down....is modified as under 45% capacity may be read as 60% capacity. This order shall take effect from the date of issue of this order. The other terms and conditions shall remain the same,” the ministry said had said in its order.
After resuming domestic passenger flights in India from May 25 following a two-month gap due to Covid-19-triggered lockdown, the Centre had allowed Indian airlines to operate with only 33 percent of their pre-Covid domestic flights. On June 26, the ministry had further increased the limit to 45 percent.
{{/usCountry}}After resuming domestic passenger flights in India from May 25 following a two-month gap due to Covid-19-triggered lockdown, the Centre had allowed Indian airlines to operate with only 33 percent of their pre-Covid domestic flights. On June 26, the ministry had further increased the limit to 45 percent.
{{/usCountry}}At present, scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in the country since March 22. However, special international flights have been operating under government’s Vande Bharat Mission since May under bilateral air bubble pacts signed with various countries.
Domestic and international air traffic to and from India may decline by at least 50 percent in the current financial year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, causing significant job losses and force some airlines to ground aircraft to tide over the situation, according to centre’s estimates Hindustan Times had reported on August 18.
According to aviation consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), domestic traffic is expected to decline by over 60 percent and international traffic by 70-80 percent in financial year 2021.