Domestic flight operations in full capacity without restrictions: Centre

New Delhi : With a major dip in coronavirus cases in India and increased vaccinations, the Modi government has allowed restoring the scheduled domestic air operations from 18th October, without any capacity restriction. The government, however, mentioned that the airlines will have to follow the coronavirus guidelines to contain the spread of coronavirus.

“After review of the current status of Scheduled Domestic Operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel”, the ministry has been decided to “restore the scheduled domestic all operations with effect from 18-10-2021 without any capacity restriction,” the order stated.

According to the Aviation Ministry, the decision to ease the norms on flight capacity was taken after reviewing the current air travel. To recall, the Modi govt had imposed the first restriction in May 2020, following the outbreak of COVID-19. The government’s capacity caps on the airline sector have been in place for nearly 17 months now.

The last upward revision was made on September 18, when the capacity was increased to 85 per cent.