Unlock 1.0 kicks in: Hotels, malls, places of worship to open from June 8

With this, the Centre has outlined a plan to reopen nearly all activities outside of containment zones starting Monday.

The Centre on Saturday eased the lockdown curbs significantly while announcing what it said was ‘’unlock 1’’ with an “economic focus”. With this, the Centre has outlined a plan to reopen nearly all activities outside of containment zones starting Monday. Places of worship, hotels, restaurants and malls can resume business by June 8, it has said. Coinciding with this, some states have extended the lockdown for 15 to 30 days.

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For areas in containment zones, the Centre has extended the lockdown till June 30. It’s up to the local authorities to demarcate containment and buffer zones. According to available data, Delhi has 122 containment zones including in commercial and residential areas, while Mumbai has 684. Around 90 per cent of the containment zones in Mumbai are in slums and chawls, including 11 in Dharavi. Kolkata had 286 such zones before the onset of cyclone Amphan, Bengaluru has 25, Pune 65 and Pimpri Chinchwad another 46. With lockdown 4.0 ending on Sunday, the Centre has issued detailed guidelines for phased reopening of all prohibited activities….Read Full Story

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Day 2 of flight resumption: Over 42,000 ferried; 2 test Covid-19 positive

The air carriers also resorted to cancellation of several flights on the second day of resumption of services due to truncated schedules following requests from several states owing to the coronavirus

Domestic airlines ferried nearly 42,000 passengers on 325 flights till 5 pm on Tuesday on the second day of resumption of services.Two travellers were tested positive for coronavirus, perhaps the first time since the flights resumed, while an AirAsia flight carrying 74 people made an emergency landing in Hyderabad.

The air carriers also resorted to cancellation of several flights on the second day of resumption of services due to truncated schedules following requests from several states owing to the coronavirus crisis posing difficulties to hundreds of passengers at several airports. The number of cancellations was not immediately available though Tuesday’s passenger load indicated more travellers taking to flights compared to Monday.

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Airlines also began operating from Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday while flights will resume in West Bengal from Thursday that is expected to increase the passenger traffic. Officials said several of the flights operated on Monday were half empty.

IndiGo airline said one of the passengers who travelled on its Chennai-Coimbatore flight on Monday evening has tested positive for Covid-19. The low-cost carrier said the passenger was sitting with all precautionary measures like gloves, mask and face shield and he is currently quarantined at a Coimbatore medical facility.

Over 500 flights take off, but states create plane confusion at airports

Maharashtra clears air, says short-term visitors exempt from isolation

It was a day of delight and despair for passengers as domestic airlines resumed flights on Monday after two months of suspension. While more than 39,000 people flew on Day One, several hundred remained stranded due to last minute cancellations.

Even as airlines were supposed to operate 33 per cent of the approved summer schedule, they were forced to rework their itineraries late Sunday evening following many rounds of discussions between the Centre and states. The original schedule turned upside down as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, allowed operations with only limited number of flights…

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Industry sources estimated the average passenger load on Monday at around 55 per cent, with IndiGo operating half the total flights. For some flights, fewer than 10 passengers turned up. Alliance Air’s Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Dehradun flights flew with two and three passengers only, executives confirmed.

While flights from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Northeast states saw 100-plus passengers each, Bengaluru and Mumbai-bound flights from the Capital had lower number of passengers. Short-duration visitors, including business travellers, will not be required to undergo isolation in Maharashtra, the state said in its standard operating procedures for domestic air travel on Monday…Read More

From Rs 2,000 to Rs 18,600: Here’s how much air tickets will cost you

In the case of a Delhi-Mumbai flight, the minimum fare will be Rs 3,500 and the maximum Rs 10,000. Here is the maths of how much air tickets will cost passengers as domestic air travel resumes

To ensure affordable air ticket fares for passengers and at the same time maintain financial viability for airlines in the times of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has capped air fares for three months. This is the first time since fares were deregulated in 1994 that a government has decided to interfere with pricing of air tickets. While announcing the resumption of air transport from March 25, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said there would be fare caps and floor prices based on flight duration.

How are the flight fares going to be fixed?

The flight routes have been divided into seven bands based on the flight duration. The first band, which would have its specific lower and upper limits of air fare, will consist of flights that are of less than 40 minutes. Second, third, fourth and fifth bands of upper limits would be of flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes and 120-150 minutes, respectively.

Methodology of ticket fares: 40 per cent of the seats in any flight would have to be sold at the mid-point of the lower and upper air fare limits prescribed for any route by the authorities.

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In the case of a Delhi-Mumbai flight, the minimum fare will be Rs 3,500 and the maximum fare will be Rs 10,000. Thus, for a Delhi-Mumbai flight having a total of 180 seats, the ticket fares will range between Rs 3,500 and Rs 10,000. Moreover, at least 72 seats (or 40 per cent of all seats) will have to be sold at a price less than Rs 6700.

Air ticket fare: Here’s how much air tickets will cost you

1.Domestic flights with less than 40-minute duration will have lower and upper limits of Rs 2,000 and Rs 6,000

2.For flights with durations between 40 muinutes and 60 minutes, the limits would be Rs 2,500 on the lower end and Rs 7,500 on the upper..

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Centre reverses stance, allows domestic flights to resume on May 25

Aviation minister’s tweet caught airlines and airports off guard as they were preparing for a resumption from June 1

Reversing its recent stance, the government on Wednesday announced that domestic airline operations would resume on May 25, more than two months after all flights were halted. Earlier this week, the Union home ministry, while announcing the extension of lockdown, had prohibited air transport till May 31.

“Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday, May 25. All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced in a Twitter message, adding that the final SOP (standard operating procedure) on resumption was being framed by his ministry. Passengers will have to web check-in and will not be allowed to carry luggage inside the aircraft cabin except for a laptop or a purse. Also, airlines will have to provide a mask, face shield and sanitizers to passengers at the time of boarding, it is learnt.

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Although discussed earlier, the new norms don’t talk about keeping the middle seat vacant to ensure social distancing. India grounded domestic air transport starting March 24, a day before the lockdown came into effect, to curb the spread of the coronavirus. International flights, which were stopped on March 22, remain shut. Puri’s tweet caught airlines and airports off guard as they were preparing to resume operations from June 1. But, later in the evening civil aviation secretary held a meeting with chief executive officers of airlines to discuss service resumption plans.

Aarogya Setu must, cabin baggage barred: rules ready for resuming flights

The civil aviation ministry has come out with a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for restarting commercial air passenger services in the country

Filling up a detailed questionnaire related to coronavirus, no cabin baggage, using Aarogya Setu app, and reaching airport at least two hours before a flight departure might well be among some of the requirements for air passengers during the initial phase after resumption of commercial flights. The civil aviation ministry has come out with a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for restarting commercial air passenger services in the country, which remain suspended since March 25 in the wake of the lockdown to curb spreading of coronavirus infections.

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Green status on Aarogya Setu app, web check-in, and temperature checks for all domestic departing and arriving passengers have also been proposed. The draft SOP, accessed by PTI, has also mooted rostering the same set of cabin and cockpit crew as long as possible in order to prevent possible cross-contamination. Not just for passengers, the draft SOP has suggested measures that could be followed by security agencies as well as airport operators, including doing away with identity card checks at airport entry gates and ensuring social distancing requirements.