The ministry had said last week that the Indian airlines can operate maximum 60 percent of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights till February 24 next year due to the prevailing coronavirus situation.

PTI

File image

The cap on the number of domestic flights that Indian airlines are permitted to operate would be increased to 70-75 percent of their pre-COVID levels as the passenger traffic surges, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) said on November 5.

The ministry had said last week that the Indian airlines can operate maximum 60 percent of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights till February 24 next year due to the prevailing coronavirus situation.

In a press release on Thursday, the ministry said, "MOCA is monitoring traffic everyday, and it is expected that the traffic would further pickup because of the festival season and as passenger traffic increases, the upper cap would be revised to 70-75 percent of normal capacity in the coming days." The MOCA said 2.05 lakh passengers travelled in domestic flights on November 1.

The ministry had informed the airlines about the aforementioned 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. Last Thursday, 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".

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show

related news

The ministry had resumed domestic passenger services from May 25, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. However, the airlines were allowed to operate not more than 33 percent of their pre-COVID domestic flights. On June 26, this was increased to 45 percent and on September 2, it was further increased to 60 percent. Airlines are expecting that the government would further increase the cap on domestic flights so that they can soon reach their pre-COVID levels.

For example, Vistara is expecting to operate 100 percent of its pre-COVID domestic passenger flights by April next year, said its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Vinod Kannan on Wednesday. Currently, Vistara is operating around 55 percent of its pre-COVID scheduled domestic passenger services.

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.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here.

First Published on Nov 5, 2020 08:44 pm

Domestic flights' cap would be increased to 70-75% of pre-COVID levels as traffic surges: Govt

The ministry had said last week that the Indian airlines can operate maximum 60 percent of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights till February 24 next year due to the prevailing coronavirus situation.

related news

tags #airlines #coronavirus #Current Affairs #India #Ministry of Civil Aviation