Notwithstanding the second wave of COVID-19 infections,domestic air travel has reached a new heights, as more than one crore passengers travelled in last four months.
Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that more than one crore passengers have flown on 1,08,210 flights since the recommencement of domestic operations on 25 May . While indicating that domestic aviation is moving towards pre-COVID figures, Puri congratulated all stakeholders on achieving this milestone in India’s journey towards creating an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.
With the announcement of nationwide lockdown on March 24 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of coronavirus, all travel including air (domestic schedule commercial airlines), rail and road was restricted. While railway started its operations with special trains, domestic air operations resumed after two months on May 25. However, international air travel is yet to resume in India with barring those who are residents of or who work in other countries that have air bubble agreements with India.
While sharing the information, the minister said that the total number of departing passengers was 1,19,702 and total number of arriving passengers during this period was 1,21,126.
He added that total departures were 1,393 whereas arrivals were 1,394 taking the total number of movements of flights to 2,787. Further, the total number of passenger footfalls at airports across the country was 2,40,828 in a single day.
On Thursday, the ministry notified new rules by removing all restrictions around check-in baggage in domestic flights, in a move towards achieving normality in flying. When domestic flights resumed its operation on May 25, only one check-in baggage was allowed. Earlier, when Air India used to allow upto 25 kilos of check-in baggage, some private airlines were normally allowed upto 15 kilos of baggage for economy passengers.
25/09/20 Pradip R Sagar/The Week
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