Domestic flights to operate at full capacity starting today

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Airlines will be running domestic flights without capacity restrictions from Monday, according to the revised order by Union ministry of civil aviation. The order was issued to increase in “passengers' demand for air travel,” the ministry stated. Since September 18, the carriers were operating at 85% capacity due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The second wave of Covid-19 restrictions forced limited domestic flight operations to 50% capacity in June. In July, it was increased to 65%. The ministry further eased the limit to 72.5% between August 12 and September 18.

The order to resume flights operation to 100% capacity was issued on October 12. The notice said, “It has been decided to restore the scheduled domestic air operation with effect from October 18, 2021, without any capacity restriction,” the aviation ministry had stated.

The decision was taken after a “review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel.”

The revision in passengers' capacity has been welcomed by the major carriers of the country. A report said, “It is a welcome move as we believe that with recent pent-up demand combined with the upcoming festive season, it will be great to operate flights on pre-pandemic levels. We are quite bullish about the overall growth and demand for domestic travel.”

Vistara, a private carrier, said the decision will help in “accelerating recovery from the severe impacts of the pandemic as demand continues to grow, especially with the growing confidence in air travel and the much-awaited festive season.”