The cap on the number of domestic flights that Indian airlines are permitted to operate was increased from 70% to 80% of their pre-COVID levels on Thursday, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The Minister had said on November 11 that the Indian airlines can operate up to 70% of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights due to the prevailing demand amid the coronavirus situation.
Mr. Puri tweeted on Thursday, “Domestic operations recommenced with 30K passengers on 25 May & have now touched a high of 2.52 lakhs on 30 Nov 2020.”
“Ministry of Civil Aviation is now allowing domestic carriers to increase their operations from existing 70% to 80% of pre-COVID approved capacity,” he stated.
The Ministry had resumed scheduled domestic passenger services from May 25, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus lockdown.
However, the airlines were allowed to operate not more than 33% of their pre-COVID domestic flights.
On June 26, this was increased to 45% and on September 2, it was further increased to 60%. On November 11, it was increased to 70%.