Government sets limits on airfares | Fusion - WeRIndia

The domestic flights will resume their operations from Monday with new norms and other precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

As social distancing is one of the essential norms, the number of seats/passengers in the flights will have to be reduced and the flights will have to operate at lesser capacity.

As a result, their prices may soar. In this context, the government has set limits on airfares as per the duration of flights. These limits will continue till August 24.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the flights have been categorized into seven bands as per their duration.

The categories are as follows:

• Flights that have a duration of less than 40 minutes
• Flights that have a duration of 40-60 minutes
• Flights that have a duration of 60-90 minutes
• Flights that have a duration of 90-120 minutes
• Flights that have a duration of 120-150 minutes
• Flights that have a duration of 150-180 minutes
• Flights that have a duration of 180-210 minutes

40% of seats in these flights will have to be sold at a fare “less than the midpoint of the lower and upper airfare limits” set for the specific band.

For example, if the lower price and upper price of a flight are ₹4,000 and ₹10,000, then the midpoint would be ₹7,000 and 40% of seats will have to be sold at that price.

In this way, the government is setting limits to control the prices of air travel.

The minimum fare would be ₹3,500 and the maximum fare would be ₹10,000 for a journey of 90-120 minutes between Delhi and Mumbai.

Similarly, prices for flights in all seven bands will be controlled.

The minister said that international flights will be resumed based on the experiences on recommencing of domestic flight operations.

All passengers will have to follow prescribed norms for air travel. Though Aarogya Setu app is mandatory on the mobile phones of passengers, a self-declaration form is sufficient for anyone who does not have it on his/her mobile phone for some reason.

Image credit: দেবর্ষি রায় /  CC-BY-SA-2.0

Image Reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/39423133@N04/6530265509