Second wave ebbs: Government allows 15% more domestic flights

NEW DELHI: Indian carriers can now operate 15% more domestic flights with the government raising the cap on the same from 50% of pre-Covid level to 65% from Monday.

During the pandemic, the aviation ministry has been regulating both domestic fares and capacity. It has tweaked both as per Covid situation.

Now that the second wave is ebbing and daily cases have fallen, the domestic capacity — which was reduced from 80% of pre-Covid to 50% on June 1 — has been increased.

The past few days have seen a constant increase in daily domestic flyers, after dipping in April and May.

For instance, July 3 saw almost 1.6 lakh domestic flyers — a figure that dipped to less than 50,000 on several days during peak second wave in May.