Government permits domestic chartered flight operations, issues guidelines
The fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown imposed as a measure to stem the spread of COVID-19 is scheduled to end on May 31
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New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry permitted domestic chartered flights to resume their operations from Monday, with the scheduled domestic passenger flights also starting on the same day.
The ministry said "non-scheduled and private operators" of fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and micro-light aircraft can resume their domestic flights from May 25 onwards.
In its guidelines, the ministry said if a passenger had manually booked his or her ticket for a chartered helicopter flight, the boarding pass will be issued at the helipad or heliport with minimum contact and after following all sanitisation protocols prescribed by the local administration.
Passengers should report at the airport, heliport or helipad at least 45 minutes before the departure time, the ministry said.
"Vulnerable persons, such as very elderly, pregnant ladies, passengers with health issues are advised to avoid air travel," it said.
"However, this will not apply to air ambulance services."
Price cap on tickets, issued by the aviation regulator DGCA last week for scheduled domestic passenger flights, will not be applicable on chartered flights.
"The charges of air travel (on chartered flights) to be as per mutually agreed terms between operators and the travellers," the ministry said.
Most of the guidelines issued by the aviation ministry were similar to the ones issued for passengers of operators of domestic commercial passenger flights.
After a two month gap, India resumed its domestic passenger flights from Monday and a total of 532 domestic flights operated.
