Air traffic in India jumps 70% during January-July
New Delhi, August 18: Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Thursday shared data on air traffic in India and revealed that domestic airlines carried 669.54 lakh passengers during the January-July period and registered an annual air traffic growth of over 70 per cent.
As per the data updated by DGCA, air passengers rose by 93 per cent to 97.05 lakh in July alone. The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines was just 0.98 per cent in the same month.
Moreover, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to remove the fare cap on air tickets imposed during the early days of Covid-19 in 2020 as the aviation sector recovers from the pandemic-driven shock.
The cap will be lifted from August 31, 2022.
"After review of the current status of Scheduled Domestic Operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel, it has been decided to remove the fare bands notified from time to time regarding the airfares with effect from 31.08.2022," the ministry stated.
The ministry imposed cap on airfares on May 21, 2020. The cost of a flight from Delhi to Mumbai at the time ranged from Rs 3,500 to Rs 10,000.
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There were seven categories for the flight's duration: 0–30 minutes, 30–60 minutes, 60–90 minutes, 90–120 minutes, 120–150 minutes, 150–180 minutes, and 180–210 minutes.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, tweeted, "The decision to remove airfare caps has been taken after careful analysis of daily demand and prices of air turbine fuel."
"Stabilisation has set in and we are certain that the sector is poised for growth in domestic traffic in the near future."
However, according to the order from the Civil Aviation Ministry, airlines and operators must make sure that the guidelines to stop the spread of Covid-19 are strictly followed and appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced.
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-PTC News
