Big relief for passengers! Domestic flight capacity increases up to 65%

Indian domestic flights resumed operations on May 25, 2020 after being grounded for two months due to the COVID-led lockdown (Photo: PTI)

The ministry of civil aviation (MoCA), as per the official statement issued by the ministry on Twitter, has increased the capacity of domestic flights to 65 per cent from 50 per cent on Monday. The order, which was issued on July5, read that after the review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a viz passenger demand for air travel, 50 per cent capacity will now be increased to 65 per cent . The statement issued by MoCA also stated that the order will take effect from July 5 itself and will be applicable up to July 31 or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

On the same day, Hardeep Puri, civil aviation minister tweeted, “Domestic aviation operations would continue with all the COVID protocols in place.” The number of domestic passengers increasing as flying has emerged as a safe and timely mode of transport, Hardeep Puri further wrote. Hinting towards the numbers, the minister wrote, as of July 4, 2021, 1,74,905 passengers were on 1,467 flights. Total flight movements stood at 2,938.

Indian domestic flights resumed operations on May 25, 2020 after being grounded for two months due to the COVID-led lockdown with only 33 per cent capacity. It was later on increased to 45 per cent in June and then to 60 per cent. The capacity was further increased to 80 per cent as well. The air traffic picked up after the lockdown was lifted in May 2020. And it started rising every month till Match 2021 before the second wave of coronavirus hit the country. Later on in May, the government decided to go with 50 per cent of their total capacity on domestic flights due to the rising number of covid-19 cases. The demand for travel also fell at the same time when the second wave of covid-19 struck the country.

The civil aviation ministry in may raised the lower limit on fares by 13 to 16 per cent, as per the official order issued by the ministry. The move came to provide some relief to the ailing aviation industry which was hit hard due to the second wave of COVID-19 . The air traffic was reduced significantly and the business was severely impacted.
The country imposed lower and upper limits on airfares based on flight duration when services were resumed in May last year (2020) after a two-month of COVID led lockdown. According to the official order, the lower limit for flights under 40 minutes of duration will be increased to Rs 2,600 from Rs 2,300; an increase of 13 per cent.