(TAN): India’s private airlines have reopened passenger bookings for services beginning mid-May, reports said.
Companies such as Spicejet and GoAir are taking bookings for departures from May 16 while IndiGo and Vistara have resumed reservations for travel from June 1, as per reports.
However, the carriers have opened bookings despite the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) directive last week that “no decision to commence the operation of domestic or international flights” were taken yet. The ministry took to Twitter to forbid airlines to not take bookings until there were further instructions to do so.
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“…all airlines are hereby directed to refrain from booking tickets… Further, the airlines may note that they shall be given sufficient notice and time for restarting of operations. This is for strict compliance by all airlines,” DGCA Deputy Director General Sunil Kumar wrote to all domestic and foreign airlines.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri added that flight restrictions will remain in place until the spread of the outbreak is under control.
“I want to say again that flight restrictions that are in place as a result of India’s fight against COVID-19 will be lifted once we are confident that spread of the virus has been controlled and it poses no danger to our country and people,” he tweeted.
According to reports, the central government reduced some restrictions for certain businesses over the weekend which has probably led the private airline companies into thinking that flight operations would soon resume.
While Vistara is asking for INR 3,800 (USD 49.76 approximately) for a Delhi to Kolkata flight on June 1, IndiGo is charging a little less at INR 3,400 for the same, reports said. As per reports, both IndiGo and SpiceJet are charging INR 3,500 for a flight from Delhi to Bengaluru on May 16.
