Covid-19 impact: EC’s ban on physical rallies hits business of charter flight operators

The Election Commission’s ban on physical rallies in five poll-bound states since January 8 due to the ongoing Covid-19 wave has hit the business of charter flight operators.

Just 10-15 per cent of the 350-400 flight hours per month are election-related travel at this stage, the operators said.

“Election travel has not really picked up. It had started to pick up initially, around mid-December, but then the EC announced the ban on rallies so that completely stopped most of the (election-related) travel,” Rajan Mehra, CEO, Club One Air told PTI.

Election travel is very limited, added Mehra, former India head of Qatar Airways.