Domestic flights to resume from May 25: Puri

Entertainment industry asked to restart shooting

The Union government on Wednesday announced that domestic civil flight operations will resume from Monday in a calibrated manner.

The Union minister for civil aviation, Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, said all airports and airline carriers were being told to be ready for operations from May 25 and Standard Operating Procedures for passenger movement will be issued soon.

The minister, however, did not mention any update for international flights, which have also remained shut during the lockdown, barring special flights being operated to bring back stranded Indians and expatriates from abroad.

The Union Home Ministry also said later in the night that domestic air travel has been removed from the list of prohibited activities during the lockdown.

On Tuesday, Mr Puri said the Centre alone cannot take a decision on resuming passenger flights and the state governments should be ready to allow these services in the spirit of cooperative federalism.

Senior government officials have said around 30 per cent of domestic flights will be allowed initially.

“The number of flights will be increased gradually after that,” one of them added.

The officials also said the government is likely to put a cap, as well as a floor, on all air fares so as

to discourage predatory pricing by airlines. “The discussions regarding the floor price and cap price on air fares are currently going on. A decision would be taken soon,” the official cited above said.

The entertainment industry has also been asked to restart shoots and postproduction activities.