Domestic flights ops to return to full capacity from Oct 18

The Civil Aviation Ministry has announced that restrictions on domestic flight operations will be lifted with effect from October 18, which augurs well for the airport media business that had been hit hard by curbs on domestic flight operations since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in the country. The ministry said capacity restrictions - a reference to the number of flights each airline can operate - had been removed after a review of the demand for air travel.

Air passenger traffic volume has been increasing month-on-month after the Covid-19 second wave tapered. A Moneycontrol report states that domestic airlines carried around 304,020 passengers on 2,340 flights on October 9. The report also states that domestic air traffic on October 9 was around 76% of pre-COVID level while the domestic flight departures on the same day were around 81% of pre-COVID level.