Will try to start a good percentage of international flights before August: Aviation Min

In a major development, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, on Saturday, revealed that by August-September, a 'good percentage' of international flights will begin operation. He added that while he is aiming to start international flights from mid-June, as per the ongoing rate of growth in Coronavirus infections, the ministry is confident that a fair number of international flights will commence operation by August. Currently, India is gearing to commence domestic flights operation on May 25.

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International flights by August-September

"Will try to start good percentage of international passenger flights before August. If by then, not full international aviation, then definitely a good percentage of international flights will run.  If the situation eases and we are able to make preparations, we must have an ambitious goal by mid June. There's no contradiction between domestic flights beginning from May 25 and lockdown in India being imposed till May 31," said Puri in a press briefing.

'Domestic flight operations to run at 1/3rd capacity of summer schedule':Aviation Minister

Centre commences domestic flights

On Wednesday, after announcing the commencement of domestic air flights, Puri said that there will be new fare structure to keep flight travel affordable. He said that for this fare structure sets a minimum and maximum level for three months - for e.g. Delhi-Mumbai flight fare will be set Rs 3500 and the maximum level at Rs 10000. Flight routes had been divided into 7 sections-flying times of fewer than 40 minutes, from 40 to 60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and from 180 to 210 minutes.  

Moroever, Puri announced  that the domestic flight operations shall be restricted to 1/3rd capacity of the approved summer schedule 2020. He explained the capacity for three categories of operations- metro to metro cities, metro to non-metro cities, and non-metro-non-metro cities. Puri elaborated that metro cities imply Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. This order shall continue till 23.59 hours on August 24, 2020, from May 25 onwards.  SOPs for passengers and crew have been released.

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India under lockdown

On Sunday, the Centre announced the extension of India's nationwide Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown till May 31.  The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has released its detailed guidelines for the extended lockdown, allowing the delineation of red, green and orange zones as per state and UT governments, taking the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) into consideration. Since then, several states have released their own state guidelines - most easing the lockdown. Currently, India has 1,25,101 cases, with 51,784 recoveries and 3720 deaths.

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