Domestic Airlines allow bookings for flights after 14 April: Puri

Apr 03,2020

Domestic Airlines allow bookings for flights after 14 April: Puri

Indian Domestic Airlines can take domestic bookings after 14 April, unless the current lockdown, which has been implemented to contain the spread of contagious covid-19 virus, is further extended, aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters on a video conference, Puri added that any international flights to evacuate Indians stranded abroad will operate only after 14 April, once the current lockdown is lifted.

“We can start resumption of international flights, case by case basis, after that (lockdown is revoked),” the minister said.

Puri also hinted at a possible delay in the divestment of the national carrier Air India Ltd.

“The Air India divestment process is ongoing, we will revisit it when other pressing issues are resolved,” he said.

Meanwhile, Air India has signed contract with four countries, namely Germany, Canada, France, and Ireland, to charter 18 flights, to help citizens of these countries currently stranded in India due to the lockdown, to return home, the airline’s chairman and managing director Rajiv Bansal said.

The airline has also been allowed to carry consignments from Hong Kong and Shanghai to India, Bansal added.