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Domestic flights begin with price capping divided into seven bands with a lower of INR 2,000 and an upper limit of INR 18,600 on airfares. By Tanvi Jain
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As limited domestic flights resume from May 25, with the first ones being the Delhi-Pune and Mumbai-Patna flights, the Civil Aviation Ministry orders all air carriers to cap the pricing with a lower and an upper limit. This limit is as of now applicable for flights between May 25 and August 24.
As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines, the maximum price of air tickets has been divided into seven bands with the minimum limit of INR 2,000 and maximum that of INR 18,600.
“Circular dated 21 May 2020 on Recommencement of domestic flights and minimum & maximum fares chargeable for such flights has been uploaded on DGCA website and can be downloaded from the website at https://dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/jsp/dgca/homePage/covid19.jsp,” DGCA tweeted.
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According to the new pricing cap, with a travel time of fewer than 40 minutes will fall under the first band, i.e. their fare will range between minimum INR 2,000 to maximum INR 6,000. The second band with a range of INR 2,500 to INR 7,500 will include flights which have a travel duration of 40 to 60 minutes. Similarly, the range for other bands will increase in direct proportion with the duration of the flights.
However, not all the states have resumed flights from May 25. While Andhra Pradesh will recommence flying from May 26, West Bengal will start from May 28.
“Except Andhra Pradesh which will start on 26/5 & West Bengal on 28/5, domestic flights will recommence across the country from tomorrow,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had earlier tweeted.
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“As per the request of state govt, operations in Andhra Pradesh will recommence on a limited scale from 26 May. For Tamil Nadu, there will be max 25 arrivals in Chennai but there’s no limit on the number of departures. For other airports in TN flights will operate as in other parts of the country,” he had said in another tweet.
Furthermore, in a recent Facebook live session, he also said that the Aviation Ministry will try to start international flights before August-September, depending upon the situation of COVID-19 pandemic.
Related: #StepAhead: Here Are The New Regulations For Domestic Flights In India
