'Middle seats in airplanes cannot be kept vacant'

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'Middle seats in airplanes cannot be kept vacant'
'Middle seats in airplanes cannot be kept vacant'

New Delhi : The domestic flights will become operational from Monday in a calibrated manner, there will be fewer flights and middle seat cannot be left vacant on the planes as it will dramatically increase the ticket prices, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Flight services in India were suspended in late March following lockdown in the nation.

"Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday 25th May 2020. All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May," tweeted Mr Puri.

He also mentioned that the instructions for the passengers will be released soon by the government.



While the government has talked about the new normal of allowing flights, Mr Puri claimed that it is not possible to keep the middle seat vacant as it will end up in increasing the running cost for the airlines and that will dramatically increase the passenger fare.

"It's not viable to keep the middle seat vacant. Even if you keep the middle seat vacant you'll still have a situation where the prescribed distance for social distancing isn't followed. If you were to do it then you've to hike up airline ticket price by 33 per cent," the minister was quoted as telling news agency ANI.



Airports have started preparing for the flight operations.