India to see pre-Covid air traffic numbers by January 1: Minister Hardeep Puri

Projecting a positive forecast for India’s civil aviation sector, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that with more than 1.5 lakh passengers travelling by air today and 1.2 crore domestic passengers since May 25, Indian skies can expect air travel numbers to reach pre-Covid numbers by January 1, 2021.

“Our skies are opening up further. Flying is considered as a safe & efficient mode of transport by people. More than 1.2 crore domestic passengers have flown since 25 May 2020. We had 1,56,565 passengers on 1525 flights today. We should touch pre-COVID numbers by New Year,” the Union minister for civil aviation said.

Air traffic and revenue has been drastically hit in India due to the coronavirus disease outbreak since March this year, when all the flights were grounded. The flights are still operating in a graded manner.