Business Standard | Covid-19 pandemic: Govt cuts airline capacity to 50% from June 1

May 29,2021

The government has cut down capacity for airlines to operate from 80 per cent to 50 per cent from 1st June in order to safeguard viability of airlines with weak finances. Simultaneously it has increased the upper cap of airfare to go up by around 14 per cent due to the rise in fuel prices.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has said that Airlines can operate with 50 per cent of flight operations from 1st of June of next month.

Earlier the permitted limit was 80 per cent. The step has been taken in view of the sudden surge in the number of active Covid-19 cases, decrease in passenger traffic and passenger load factor.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has increased the limit to 80 per cent in December last year as a measure to open the domestic flight operation in a calibrated manner. After the initial restrictions on the domestic flight operations due to outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the Central Government had permitted the domestic flight operation in May last year.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to raise the minimum fares of domestic flights from 13 to 16 per cent. This will come into effect from the 1st of June of this year.