Domestic flight operations will return to normal by Diwali, says Hardeep Singh Puri

Domestic flights operations will return to normal by Diwali (in November), Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, mentioning that to restart economy was crucial as extending the nationwide lockdown could be “more devastating than Covid” for the country.

“By Diwali (in November), we will have all our 650 aircraft operated by Indian carriers (flying),” the minister told ET in an interview. “This may sound optimistic but what else we are going to do?”

Puri highlighted that India's recovery rate from coronavirus disease was higher than those of other countries.

Exuding confidence, the minister stated that the aviation sector will recover fast as the country has a huge captive market and travellers will feel the need to start flying again.

On May 25, passenger flights took to the skies in a limited manner for the first time in two months, and the first flight in the country took off from Delhi for Pune at 4.45 am. The sector is operating at 20 per cent of pre-Covid capacity, which was 2,700 domestic flights take off and land each day in the country with 650 aircraft.

The financial daily quoted Puri as saying, “We will come out of the phase on top because we have a captive market unlike many other countries, which are aviation hubs. This Covid situation will change the paradigm… Our greatest strength is we have our own people to fly, own travel demand and routes.”

Asked about many states have also come up with own quarantine conditions, the minister said he was well aware of states’ concerns and “they have to balance their internal health requirements and work towards opening up their economy”. He said he would like the states to follow the norms issued by the union health ministry on the matter.

Worth mentioning here is that Karnataka on Thursday urged the Centre to cut down flights from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, mentioning a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases with the arrival a number of people from these states.

Puri, meanwhile, said that national carrier Air India's strategic divestment programme may have been deferred further. “We have only delayed the process by two months. I think AI divestment will become a more attractive proposition after this because they have access and routes,” he told the publication.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com

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