After nearly two months of suspension, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Wednesday that domestic civil aviation operations will resume from May 25.
In a tweet, Hardeep Singh Puri said, "Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday, 25th May 2020." "All airports & air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May," he said.
According to the minister, special operating procedures (SOPs) for passenger movement are being separately issued.
The development comes a day after Puri had said that it is not only up to the Central government to decide on the resumption of domestic flights, as states will also have to be ready to allow civil aviation operations.
Ever since the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country on March 25, passenger air services were suspended for both scheduled domestic and international flights.
"It is not up to @MoCA_GoI or centre alone to decide on resuming domestic flights. In the spirit of cooperative federalism, the govt of states where these flights will take off & land should be ready to allow civil aviation operations," Puri had tweeted on Tuesday.
On Sunday, after the Ministry of Home Affairs' decision to extend the lockdown till May 31, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had said that it will suitably inform the airlines about flights resumption in due course.
In its guidelines for lockdown 4.0, the MHA had said that all domestic and international air travel of passengers will be prohibited, except for domestic medical services, domestic air ambulance and for security purposes.
The central government is also considering at the option of making the Aarogya Setu app compulsory for travellers to have it installed on their mobile phones while taking any flight. The PTI quoted an official saying, “If the proposal is approved in the Aviation ministry, passengers who do not have the app on their phone would not be allowed to board their flight.”
(With inputs from PTI)
