Further Opening Of Domestic Flights Will Depend On COVID-19 Situation, Passenger Demand: Aviation Minister

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Further opening up of the domestic scheduled operations will depend on upcoming COVID-19 situation, the status of operations and passenger demand for air travel, The civil aviation ministry Hardeep Singh Puri told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Further, opening up of the domestic scheduled operations is subject to prevailing COVID-19 situation, status of operations and passenger demand for air travel,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri said in a written reply.

After the pandemic, the scheduled domestic operation was discontinued from March 25, 2020 and calibrated again from May 25, 2020.

However, as of now, the operations have been opened up to 80 per cent of the summer schedule 2020.

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Covid-19 Impact On The Aviation Industry

The Minister also provided some figures based on input from stakeholders on the impact of regulatory restrictions on employment in the aviation sector in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

  • The employment at airlines has reduced from 74,887 as on March 31 to 67,906 as on September 30 last year, while those at airports declined from 67,760 to 48,513 during the same period.

“The employment at ground handling agencies has reduced from 37,720 as on March 31, 2020, to 25,074 as on September 30, 2020,” as per the reply.

Further, the employment at cargo operators dropped from 9,555 as on March 31, 2020, to 9,385 at the end of September 30, 2020.

After the resumption of domestic air services in May last year, initially, only 33 per cent of the summer schedule 2020 was allowed to be operated. The same was increased to 45 per cent on June 26 and then to 80 per cent on December 3, 2020.

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Rohan Kumar
Rohan Kumar
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