Covid-19: Airlines face demand dip amid Omicron surge, IndiGo waives rescheduling fee
Airlines have been forced to rework their domestic schedules and even cancel several flights as the latest surge in India’s Covid-19 caseload has led to a demand for air travel spiralling.
IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, on Sunday withdrew 20% of all its scheduled flights due to lower demand. IndiGo is also offering free changes for all bookings made up to January 31 for flights up to March 31. Tata-owned full-service carrier Vistara said it was adjusting capacity to sync with the changing scenario, while an Air India official told The Indian Express that it was merging some flights on routes with multiple daily services based on load factor.
According to Ministry of Civil Aviation data, domestic air passenger traffic has been declining for two weeks when fresh Covid-19 cases first started surging and states began to impose curbs. The ministry logged 2.41 lakh passengers on January 8, down from 3.85 lakh on December 26.
