'Mere Speculation': Aviation Minister dismisses reports of flights resuming from April 15

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday dismissed the reports about the resumption of passenger flights in a staggered manner from April 15 as "mere speculation".

'The correct position is spelt out in my tweet'

Taking to Twitter, he wrote that the position about the resumption of passenger flight services remains clear in his earlier tweets on April 2, 2020. 

The Minister had said on April 2 that a decision to restart the flights after lockdown remains to be taken and if required, the situation will be assessed on a case-to-case basis. 

Earlier, there were reports that the government is likely to allow domestic and international flight operations in India in a staggered manner post the nationwide lockdown which was put in place to restrict the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

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Aviation sector heading towards a crisis

The aviation sector has been hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic. On Sunday, Air Deccan became the latest casualty of the crisis as it announced an indefinite suspension of flight operations and asked all employees to go on sabbatical without pay. All major airlines except Air India are taking domestic bookings for dates post-April 14. Air India is taking bookings for dates post-April 30 only.

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India has imposed a 21-day lockdown from March 25 to curb spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. Consequently, all domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this time period. However, cargo flights, offshore helicopter operations, medical evacuation flights and special flights permitted by Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are permitted to operate during this lockdown.

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(With agency inputs)