Major Relaxations Provided to Airlines

Domestic and international flights resumed with many restrictions which are gradually being done away with. Domestic passenger flights are now operating at their 60 per cent of pre-COVID-19 capacity. When domestic services resumed on May 25, 2020 after a gap of two months, they were not allowed to operate more that 33 per cent of their capacity, which in June was increased to 60 per cent. Several cities initially put a cap on the number of flights arriving. In a staggered manner, these restrictions have been relaxed leading to an increase in domestic traffic. International air traffic got a leg-up after India started signing air bubbles with specific countries allowing both-way traffic. At present, India has air bubbles with 14 countries. Airlines are now allowed to implement their own check-in baggage policies instead of one check-in bag of up to 20 kg per passenger, a rule that was put in place when domestic flights commenced on May 25. In August 2020, the government allowed airlines to serve pre-packed meals, snacks, beverages on domestic flights and hot meals on international flights. No meals were allowed on domestic flights in the initial months. International flights were allowed to serve snacks, pre-packed cold meals.