Team News Riveting
Flying would now get costlier by upto 30 per cent on different routes as the Centre on Thursday extended the cap on capacity and control on air fare till 31 March.
In order to help airlines improve its balance sheet, the government had increased the maximum and minimum airfare by up to 30 percent according to the sector.
The airlines are currently allowed to fly with 80 percent of its pre-COVID capacity as part of pandemic protocol. Except market leader IndiGo, no other airline has been able to deploy around 70 percent capacity of what they operated during the winters of 2020.
After a closure of almost two months due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, domestic flights resumed on May 25, 2020.
Airlines would be allowed to charge more from passengers as there has been a substantial increase in the upper and lower limit of airfare. For instance, for flights with duration of 90 to 120 minutes the lower fare cap has been increased to Rs 3,900 from Rs 3,500 whereas the cap on maximum chargeable fare has been increased to Rs 13,000 from Rs 10,000.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that he expected full normalcy to return only by the end of March.
