As demand for flying is set to increase during the upcoming festive season, the domestic airlines are likely to increase the number of flights allowed to up to 75 percent of pre-COVID levels in another week to ten days, aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said today.
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The domestic airlines visitors will contact 3,00,000 passengers a day or contact the pre-COVID degree between Diwali and the tip of the 12 months and the federal government will allow domestic airlines to operate to 75 percent of their pre-COVID daily flights, Hardeep Puri, Minister of State, Civil Aviation, mentioned on Thursday.
Currently, domestic airlines are working 60 percent of the flights that they operated within the pre-COVID interval.
Addressing a press convention, the Minister mentioned the Maharashtra state authorities have indicated that it’ll allow 30 percent of the variety of daily flights that Mumbai airport used to deal with. In impact, because of this within the subsequent few days, Mumbai will see 300 flights a day; in the meanwhile, it’s permitting 100 flights daily. This is anticipated to see the variety of daily passengers flown and flights operated to town go up considerably as many airlines use Mumbai because of the gateway to North and South India.
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Indian airlines resumed domestic operations on 25 May, after being grounded for two months during a government-backed lockdown to contain the pandemic. At the time, airlines were allowed to operate only up to a third of their total capacity, with the cap later being increased to 45% and then to 60%.
Puri also said that the Indian government has formalized air bubble arrangements with 16 countries—USA, Canada, France, Germany, UK, Maldives, UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Japan, Nigeria, Kenya, Iraq, Bhutan, and Oman—while it is in discussions with Italy, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and others for similar arrangements.
Air bubbles or travel corridors allow designated airlines of two nations to fly passengers either way without any restriction.
International commercial flights remain suspended for at least till 30 October. However, certain flights like repatriation, cargo, ones under air bubble arrangements, apart from special flights, are allowed to operate.
Puri added that international travel under air bubble arrangement is expected to continue at least till March-April next year or till the time there is a vaccine for COVID-19.
Aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said that aviation ministry officials have held talks with German airline Lufthansa, which earlier canceled all flights to India till 20 October due to what it termed an “unexpected rejection” of its planned flight schedule for October by Indian authorities.
“Talks (with Lufthansa) were constructive and we are sure we will meet them soon and an air bubble arrangement (which is already in place) will be finalized with Germany,” Kharola said.
Meanwhile, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman Arvind Singh said at the press conference that AAI has identified six airports at Belgavi, Jalgaon, Kalaburagi, Khajuraho, Salem, and Lilabari to set up flying training institutes.
“This would be done on a competitive bidding basis. We have reduced concession fees and other charges to incentivize private operators to set up their shops. AAI will soon come out with a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the same,” Singh added.
