Domestic Flights Latest News: Giving a piece of good news to domestic airlines, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation on Wednesday said that the Indian air carriers can operate a maximum of 60 percent of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights till February 24 next year due to the prevailing coronavirus situation.
The Civil Aviation Ministry had informed the airlines about the 60 percent limit through an official order on September 2 but it had not told them the period for which the cap would remain in place.
On October 29, the ministry issued a new order clarifying that the September 2 order “shall remain in force until 2359 hrs on February 24, 2021, or until further orders” due to the “prevailing situation of Covid-19”.
On June 26, the ministry had allowed the airlines to operate a maximum of 45 percent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.
Modifying its previous order of June 26 where it had put the 45 percent limit on the number of domestic flights, the ministry issued an order on September 2 stating that, “45 percent capacity may be read as 60 percent capacity.”
Scheduled international passenger flights continue to 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 various countries since July.
Mean-while, The coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca could be soon administered to people in Britain as late-stage trial data could be available by the end of this year. If the late-stage trials give a positive indication, Britain could rollout the vaccine for masses by December or early 2021, reported news agency Reuters.
India, too, is waiting for the late-stage trial results of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as it plans to follow Britain’s suit if things move in the right direction.
Speaking recently to India Today TV, Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said that Oxford’s vaccine could be available in India soon after final trials are completed in January, provided it gets all necessary approvals.
