2 million passengers ferried by domestic flights in one month: Govt

Since a month after recommending domestic airline services, domestic airlines have ferried close to two million passengers, a senior government official said Thursday.

Usha Padhee, joint secretary, ministry of civil aviation said, “Till yesterday (June 24th) domestic airlines ferried 1.8 million passengers.”

“However, these numbers are low if compared on a Year on Year basis with similar capacity,” She said at the US-India Aviation Cooperation Program's webinar.

Besides, Padhee said the ministry will collaborate with all actors of civil aviation sector to restore the confidence on air travel.

“We will rework, renew and retune our strategies for the growth of the sector as we go along,” she said.

Till now the domestic passenger traffic averages 65-72,000 passengers a day. Over 700 flights a day are operating.

Last week, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that to ease domestic mobility and accelerate passenger traffic growth, the Centre will allow flights to more destinations.

Nevertheless, these new flights and frequencies are likely to be within the 33 per cent capacity cap, he had said.

The domestic flight services resumed from May 25. At present, airlines are only allowed to deploy 33 per cent of their total capacity.

At the ACP event, various companies from India's aviation and hospitality industries deliberated on measures that can be taken to rebuild confidence and trust in air travel.

The US-India Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP) is a unique bilateral public-private partnership launched in 2007.

With most offices opting to work from home, business travel is almost nil but Puri has expressed confidence that domestic flights would operate to full capacity by the year end.

Puri had earlier said that India’s decision to resume international flights will depend on when other countries’ decision to open air space.

India suspended international passenger flights since March 22..