New Delhi : Capacity restrictions on local airlines, since flight operations resumed in May last year, will be lifted from October 18, the government said, adding that as demand for festive travel increased, there is a welcome return to tourism .
The civil aviation ministry on Tuesday said airlines will be able to operate at their full pre-Covid (2019) capacity, which is currently higher than the 85% limit allowed by the government. Mint has reviewed a copy of the circular.
After being closed for two months during the nationwide lockdown, Indian Airlines resumed domestic operations on 25 May 2020. At the time, airlines were allowed to fill only one-third of the capacity, later raising the cap to 45% and then to 60%. This was further increased to 80% in December 2020.
Air traffic picked up after the lockdown was lifted in May 2020 and increased every month until March 2021, before the second wave of Covid-19. In May, the government re-adjusted the cap and allowed airlines to operate only 50% of their capacity on domestic flights.
The removal of the cap comes at a time when domestic air traffic is on the rise. Broking firm ICICI Securities said in a report on Monday that the average number of daily fliers increased in the week to 240,000 on October 9.
“For the week ending October 9, the average number of departures increased to 2,225 versus 2,080 in the previous week. The number of fliers per departure increased to 118 versus 115 in the prior week,” the report said.
Domestic passenger traffic has increased significantly over the past few months with the easing of restrictions following a drop in Covid cases. Credit rating agency Icra said last week that overall, domestic air passenger traffic grew 74% year-on-year and 3% sequentially in September to reach 6.9 million passengers.
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