New Delhi, November 5: The fare bands within which the airlines in India have to operate have been extended up to February 24, 2021 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. These fare bands came into force with effect from May 21, 2020. The government has fixed minimum and maximum fares for domestic flights. Depending on the journey durations, there are seven categories: starting at flights having a range of Rs 2,000-6,000 with a range of Rs 6,500-18,600.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the minister said each band would have its specific lower and upper limits of air fare, and the first such band will consist of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration. The  subsequent bands from the second to the seventh would be of flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes respectively, he said while addressing a press conference. DGCA Approves 12,983 Weekly Domestic Flights in Winter Schedule Till March 2021.

On November 1, the daily passenger traffic has reached 2.05 lakh. When the domestic aviation opened in May 2020, the airlines were enabled to fly up to 33%  of the normal capacity.  At that time, the average daily traffic was about 30,000. This cap was enhanced to 45 percent from June 26, 2020 and was further revised to 60 percent from September 2, 2020.

At present the airlines  can operate up to 60 percent of their capacity. In India, domestic flight operations resumed from May 25. All commercial passenger flights were suspended in the country from March 25, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 05, 2020 08:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).