Fare cap on domestic flights extended till May 31

New Delhi: The fare cap on domestic flights will remain intact till May 31as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has decided to extend the period with the existing 80% of the capacity of pre-Covid levels.

Currently, the airlines are permitted to charge domestic airfares only within lower and upper limits, which were set by the Ministry in May last year.

In two separate orders on Monday, the ministry said the caps on capacity as well as airfares will "remain in force till 23:59 hrs on May 31, 2021, or until further orders".

"In partial modification of circular dated 26-6-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the above subject regarding Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs IST of April 30. This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA," it said in a circular.

When India had resumed its domestic flight services on May 25 last year, it had told the airlines to operate not more than 33 per cent of their pre-Covid domestic flights. This was gradually increased to up to 80 per cent by December 3, 2020.

On May 21 last year, the ministry had placed lower and upper limits on airfares through seven bands, classified on the basis of flight duration. For example, the first band consists of all flights that are under 40 minutes duration. The lower limit on such flights is ₹ 2,300 and the upper limit is ₹ 7,500.