Not up to Centre alone, states should be ready to resume passenger flights: Puri

New Delhi, May 19: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said the Centre alone cannot take a decision on resuming passenger flights and state governments should be ready to allow these services in the spirit of cooperative federalism.

All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 25, when the Modi government imposed lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. "It is not up to the Ministry of Civil Aviation or the Centre alone to decide on resuming domestic flights.

In the spirit of cooperative federalism, the government of states where these flights will take off & land should be ready to allow civil aviation operations," Puri tweeted.

During the lockdown period, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights and special flights approved by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have been allowed to operate.

The first, second and third phase of lockdown was between March 25 to April 14, April 15 to May 3 and May 4 to May 17, respectively. The fourth phase started from May 18 and would end on May 31. The deadly virus has infected more than 1 lakh people and killed more than 3,100 people in India so far.