New Delhi/May,20: Domestic passenger flights will resume from Monday “in a calibrated manner”, the government said today. Flights were stopped in late-March, when the country went into lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus.
“Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday 25th May 2020. All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May,” tweeted Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri.SOPs for passenger movement are also being separately issued by the ministry, he said.Cargo flights, those for medical evacuation and special flights to repatriate Indians stranded abroad have been operating during the lockdown.
The government as well as airlines have talked about a “new normal” when flights start again, with fewer passengers in a flight, mandatory masks and the middle seat left vacant for physical distancing.Earlier, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced lockdown4 with incremental easing of restrictions, aviation regulator DGCA had asserted that scheduled commercial passenger flights would stay suspended till May 31.Tuesday this week, the minister had tweeted that it was not upto the central government alone to decide on when domestic flights could restart.”In the spirit of cooperative federalism, the government of states where these flights will take off and land should be ready to allow civil aviation operations,” Hardeep Puri had tweeted on Tuesday. Airlines have suffered huge losses since various countries stopped flights in their fight against the pandemic. India first blocked the entry of people from abroad and then stopped flights altogether as it went into total lockdown.
