Airlines can operate 75% of pre-Covid domestic flights if fliers are healthy
Friday, 09 October 2020 | PNS | New Delhi
Future of international flights depends on availability of vaccine
Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said Airlines may be permitted to operate maximum 75 per cent of their pre-Covid scheduled domestic flights if the passengers remained healthy during the next 7-10 days.
The Minister also said the future of international flights will depend on the availability of a vaccine.
“Our internal thinking is that we will watch it for another week or 10 days….If the figures (of passengers travelling) continue to be healthy, we would open domestic civil aviation to 75 per cent of the pre-Covid levels,” Puri said at a Press conference on Thursday.
The Minister said according to his assessment, the number of daily air passengers is set to rise up to 200,000 by October-end, while pre-Covid figures of 300,000 passengers per day will be reached between Diwali and New Year.
The Government on September 2 had said Indian airlines can operate up to 60 per cent of their pre-Covid services within the country. On June 26, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had allowed the airlines to operate a maximum of 45 per cent of their pre-Covid domestic flights.
Projecting a positive forecast for India’s civil aviation sector, Puri said with more than 1.5 lakh passengers travelling by air today and 1.2 crore domestic passengers since May 25, Indian skies can expect air travel numbers to reach pre-Covid numbers by January 1, 2021.
Puri also said the Indian Government has formalised air bubble arrangements with 16 countries – USA, Canada, France, Germany, UK, Maldives, UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Japan, Nigeria, Kenya, Iraq, Bhutan and Oman – while it is in discussions with Italy, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and others for similar arrangements.
Air bubbles or travel corridors allow designated airlines of two nations to fly passengers either way without any restriction.
On whether travel bubble arrangements will continue till March-April, the Minister said, “It is difficult to say as there is no country which has completely opened its borders for all. It depends on the availability of a vaccine as countries will feel more confident once a vaccine is there.” Regular international passenger flight services have been suspended till October 31.
The Minister hinted that this suspension is likely to be in place till March-April.
“There are basically three issues to consider before resuming regular international flights. One, resuming domestic connectivity connecting bigger cities to smaller town, which we have already done. Second, the nature of the virus on which I can’t comment and the third is international restrictions. Every country wants their people to return, but for others there are plenty of restrictions,” Puri said.
The Minister also said the time has come to send a clear message that foreign airlines’ flights will not be allowed at the expense of Indian airlines. On September 28, Lufthansa had to cancel its flights between India and Germany from September 30 to October 20 as the DGCA withdrew permission for them saying there are restrictions on Indians who want to travel to Germany and this puts “Indian carriers at a significant disadvantage resulting in inequitable distribution of traffic in favour of Lufthansa”.
Puri said, “The issue is not about allowing foreign carriers in or not. We are all for foreign carriers operating here. Make no mistake. But I think the time has come for the message to go out loud and clear that it will not be done at the expense of the Indian carriers.”
