Govt Allows Domestic Airlines To Operate Flights At 85% Capacity Of Pre-Covid Occupancy

The airlines have, as per the Civil Aviation Ministry’s earlier order, been operating 72.5 percent of their pre-Covid domestic flights since August 12.

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New Delhi: The Union Civil Aviation Ministry on Saturday said the airlines can now operate a maximum of 85 percent of their pre-Covid domestic flights instead of the 72.5 percent permitted till date.

The airlines have, as per the Civil Aviation Ministry’s earlier order, been operating 72.5 percent of their pre-Covid domestic flights since August 12.

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Modifying the order issued earlier on August 12, the Civil Aviation Ministry issued a fresh order stating that “72.5 percent capacity may be read as 85 percent capacity”, PTI reported.

The 72.5 percent cap will remain in place “until further order”, the order added. The cap was at 65 percent between July 5 and August 12, while the cap stood at 50 percent between June 1 and July 5.

The Civil Aviation Ministry had allowed the airlines to operate not more than 33 percent of their pre-Covid domestic services when the Central government had resumed the scheduled domestic flights after a two-month break on May 25 last year.

The cap, which was gradually increased to 80 percent by December last year, remained in place till June 1.

The Civil Aviation Ministry had said the decision on May 28 to bring down the cap from 80 to 50 percent from June 1 onwards was taken in view of the sudden increase in the number of active Covid-19 cases across the nation, decrease in passenger traffic and the passenger load (occupancy rate) factor.