The civil aviation ministry of India is mulling to resume domestic flight services in the country. Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri has said that domestic flight operations in India might resume within a week but only after evaluating all factors.
Speaking to media, Puri said that if all goes according to plan domestic flight operations can start before May 15.
“My effort will be to try and move in the direction of starting it very soon. I can’t put a date on it because when you are planning evacuation operations, you need the co-operation of the state governments. In order to open up domestic civil aviation, I need the domestic infrastructure in place,” Puri said.
“Once we start domestic civil aviation, it cannot be called rescue. We are beginning commercial operation, and everyone will be able to travel,” he added.
In the meantime talking about resuming flights between green zones, Puri asserted that operating between green zones is easy. “But if you look at all the metropolitans, they are in red zone. We can’t leave them totally also. A decision will be taken on this in the next few days”, he further added.
If reports are to be believed, the ministry will also issue a standard operating procedure (SOP) in this regard shortly.
Aviation industry particularly is among the worst-affected sectors amidst the COVID-19 crisis. In India, all domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended ever since the country imposed lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
