Hardeep Singh Puri: Expect bulk of air traffic back by Diwali

Much of the pre-Covid domestic air passenger traffic could be restored by Diwali, Minister of State for Civil Aviation (Independent Charge) Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.

The Centre will allow more flights from locations such as Mumbai and Kolkata, which have had restricted operations so far, Puri said.

“The figure (of domestic passengers) yesterday was 98,800, so we have already reached 33% of pre-Covid numbers. We are increasing domestic passengers at the rate of 5,000 a week. With Mumbai hopefully having Covid numbers under control, the graph stable and coming down, I’m hoping that after the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, we will open up Mumbai more; Bengaluru, Kolkata will be a little less sporadic.