Government allows 15% more domestic flights as Mumbai, Kolkata & Chennai ease restrictions
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday allowed airlines to operate more domestic flights, by raising the cap on deployed capacity from 45% to 60% of the original summer schedule. DGCA chief Arun Kumar said this move will mean airlines can deploy upto about 2,000 daily domestic flights.
“We have a detailed and established Covid-time protocol for safe air travel right from the time passengers enter a terminal at origin to the time they exit from destination airport. Air travel remains one of the safest mode of transport in this pandemic. Passengers are realising that and more people are taking to the skies again. Accordingly, the number of domestic flights airlines can operate daily has been increased to 60% of the original summer schedule, that translates to about a maximum of 1,900-2,000 daily flights within the country,” Kumar said.
The government took this decision as the number of domestic passengers has been steadily rising in past few weeks. Importantly three major metros — Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai — have started lifting restriction on domestic flights.
