Sanjay Singh / New Delhi
From today, all scheduled domestic flights have started operating with full capacity. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has allowed airlines to operate in full capacity, which had been restricted post outbreak of Covid-19, following Covid protocols, where the number of passengers was capped.
Airlines will be running domestic flights without any capacity restrictions starting Monday, according to the revised order by the Union ministry of civil aviation. The order was issued in view of the increase in “passengers’ demand for air travel,” the ministry stated. Since September 18, the carriers were operating at 85 per cent of capacity due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
However, now with Covid-19 cases dropping, these restrictions have been lifted by the MoCA.
The MoCA stated in its order that “it has been decided to restore the scheduled domestic air operations with effect from October 18, 2021, without any capacity restriction”.
The capacity cap stood at 72.5 per cent between August 12 and September 18 this year, 65 per cent between July 5 and August 12 this year and earlier between June 1 and July 5, the seating was capped at 50 per cent.
As on October 9, the Indian domestic carriers operated 2,340 domestic flights, which is 71.5 per cent of their total pre-COVID capacity.
The order noted that the decision was taken “after a review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel”.
After the government resumed scheduled domestic flights on May 25, 2020 after a two-month complete lock down, the MoCA had allowed the carriers to operate not more than 33 per cent of their pre-Covid services. The cap was gradually increased to 80 per cent by December 2020 and continued till June 1 this year.