Speculation has been rife that the Indian government will resume domestic and international flight operations, in a staggered form, post the 21-day lockdown which will end on April 14, 2020.
However, Hardeep Singh Puri, minister of Civil Aviation of India has called this news a mere speculation. He has clarified that the decision to restart flights after the said period is yet to be taken, and shall be assessed from case to case if required.
Puri tweeted:
Likewise, domestic scheduled commercial flights were grounded from 2359 from March 24.
India’s aviation sector has been heavily impacted due to the travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
As per a report by CAPA (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) India, Indian aviation industry could incur a staggering loss of $3.3 billion to $3.6 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak, if flights remain halted until June-end.
