Domestic flights permitted to operate with full capacity from 18 October

New Delhi, Oct 12: With the Covid-19 cases dropping below 20,000 in the country, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday allowed the domestic flights to operate with full capacity from October 18.

"After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel... it has been decided to restore the scheduled domestic air operations with effect from October 18, 2021, without any capacity restriction," the government said in the official notification.

However, the airlines will continue to enforce Covid-19 protocols. "The airlines/airport operators shall, however, ensure that the guidelines to contain the spread of Covid are strictly adhered to and Covid appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced by them during the travel," the statement added.

Since 18 September, domestic carriers have been operating with 85 per cent capacity.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the domestic airline operations service were suspended in March last year. Two months later, the service resumed with not more than 33 per cent of their pre-Covid services.

The cap stood at 65 per cent between July 5 and August 12 and it reached 50 per cent in June. The cap was gradually increased to 80 per cent by December 2020.

However, the 80 per cent cap continued till June 1 2021 and it was brought down to 50 per cent due to the second wave of Covid-19.

After almost 17 months, the government has permitted domestic airlines to operate without any capacity restrictions.