The Civil Aviation Ministry on the 21st of May, conducted a press meet and issued a new set of guidelines to be followed from the 25th of May.
Hardeep Puri, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, during the press meet spoke about the Indians transferred from abroad under the Vande Bharat mission. He also spoke about the rules and guidelines for the domestic flight resumption from the 25th of May.
According to the Civil Aviation Ministry, routes for domestic flights are divided into 7 types:
- Flight time less than 40 minutes
- Flight time 40 – 60 minutes.
- Flight time 60 – 90 minutes.
- Flight time 90 – 120 minutes.
- Flight time 120 – 150 minutes.
- Flight time 150 – 180 minutes.
- Flight time 180 – 210 minutes.
All routes within the country fall within these 7 types.
Passengers are allowed only one check in bag and need to reach the airport 2 hour prior to boarding time. Wearing face masks is mandatory for all passengers. However, Arogya Setu App is not mandatory to board the flights. The passengers without the Arogya Setu app need to fill a self declaration form before boarding the flights.
In addition, only limited seats would be there for passengers in the flights in which middle seats would be filled in 3 column seats to maintain social distancing.
Speaking about fares, minimum fare for domestic flights would be Rs. 3,500 and would reach maximum to 10,000. Mr. Puri said, “We’ve set a minimum and a maximum fare. In the case of Delhi, Mumbai the minimum fare would be Rs. 3,500 for a journey between 90-120 minutes, the maximum fare would be Rs. 10,000. This is operative for 3 months – till one minute to midnight on 24th August.”
When asked about complete resumption of Aviation services, Mr. Puri said, “Can’t comment right now on when we would be able to restore flight operations completely.”
The Civil Aviation Ministry would also continue the Vande Bharat Mission to help stranded Indians abroad and asked private carriers to join Indian airlines.
Meanwhile India reported a total of 1,13,461 cases of the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 infections till the 21st of May.Stay tuned for further updates.