Govt Prepared To Restart Passenger Airlines; Domestic Flights May Resume By 15 May

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri was interviewed by some media channels this week wherein he spoke of the preparedness from the ministry's side on restarting operations for passengers, however, there will be changes to the way people travel due to health guidelines in place.

"Preparations to restart civil aviation operations are in place. As soon as a decision is taken in this regard we will be able to take off immediately. We also foresee changes in the way people travelled thus far," Puri said in a tweet on Saturday.

A video of his interview with news channel Aaj Tak has also been attached to the tweet wherein the minister spoke of his optimism on restarting civil aviation operations that have remained suspended since 24 March.

He said that there will definitely be changes in the standard operating procedures followed at airports and by airlines due to the coronavirus outbreak.

To avoid queues at airports, passengers may be asked to print boarding passes at homes, arrive much ahead of the boarding time, reduce permissible baggage limits and other such measures may have been taken, he said. Puri said that they are yet to finalise the measures and procedures with the airlines and the date of reopening domestic operations will subsequently be announced.

In a separate interview with the Outlook Magazine, Puri said that a decision on operating flights between green zones of the country will soon be taken.

"We are preparing to start domestic flight operations even before May 15. My effort will be to try and move in the direction of starting it very soon. I can't put a date on it because when you are planning evacuation operations, you need the co-operation of the state governments. In order to open up domestic civil aviation, I need the domestic infrastructure in place," he said.

Currently, the suspension in commercial flight operations has been extended 17 May.