New Delhi: Air India on Saturday announced it has opened bookings on select domestic and international routes from May 4 and June 1, respectively. In wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, the national carrier had suspended accepting bookings on all domestic flights for travel till 3 May and on all international flights for travel till 31 May.

On Saturday a notification on Air India's website said, "In the light of the ongoing global health concerns, we have currently stopped accepting bookings on all domestic flights for travel till May 3, 2020, and on all international flights for travel till May 31, 2020,".

The nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19 is supposed to end on 3 May.

"Bookings for select domestic flights for travel from May 4, 2020, and for international flights for travel from June 1, 2020, onwards are open," it stated.



India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of novel coronavirus. The first phase of the lockdown was from March 25 to April 14.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 extended the lockdown till May 3. All domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended during this period.

On April 3, Air India ad said it has stopped bookings, both domestic and international, till the end of the month.

Despite the lockdown, many domestic air carriers started accepting bookings for travel dates post-April 14, barring Air India, which decided to not take any bookings till April end.

Air India has now come forward to announce the commencement of bookings for flights on May 4 and June 1 for domestic and international flights respectively.