Domestic flight ops to continue at 80% capacity till May 31

New Delhi: The Union government on Monday said due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the country, domestic flight operations will be restricted to 80 per cent capacity of last year's summer schedule.

The 80 per cent cap will remain effective till 11.59 pm on May 31, the government said. On March 19, the government had announced that all domestic airlines will have to limit their capacity to 80 per cent of the pre-Covid capacity because the number of air passengers has declined due to Covid-related restrictions.

Union Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri had tweeted that there has been a decline in the number of air passengers as some states have imposed restrictions such as compulsory RT-PCR tests due to a renewed spike in coronavirus cases.

"Last few days have seen a decline in the number of air passengers largely due to restrictions and imposition of compulsory RT-PCR test by various states. Due to this we have decided to retain the permissible limit to 80 per cent of schedule," Puri had said.

The government had increased the cap from 70 per cent to 80 per cent in December last year as India's Covid-19 cases started declining.