More flights soon, but takeoffs not guaranteed

New Delhi: The government has decided to allow airlines to increase the number of flights by a third to 44% of the pre-Covid-19 levels, although carriers are operating only 65% of the total daily approved flights.“The increase in the number of flights is part of the plan to open the aviation sector in a calibrated manner. The operations of these flights will also depend on the approvals from local authorities, as states have put in a lot of restrictions in terms of not allowing flights between two cities,” said a senior government official, who did not want to be identified.The aviation ministry is likely to issue an order in this regard on Thursday and ask airlines to operate more flights.“The airlines will add flights depending on various factors including viability and other local norms,” said the official.While the government is set to allow more flights, airlines have not been able to utilise the existing approvals. Data available with ET shows that airlines together operated 749 flights on Tuesday, much lower than the approved figure of 1,200 flights.Passenger loads on these flights are also a concern, as airlines have been able to fill up only half the seats on the flights.“The loads are not only low, they are also one-way. For instance, flights to smaller cities are going almost full but they are returning with very poor loads from tier-2 cities,” said an airline executive, who did not want to be identified.A second government official, however, said airlines would not be losing money even with 50% loads. “These are unprecedented times and airlines flying half full is on expected lines. While jet fuel prices are under control, the average fares in the price band, which was decided by the government, have also kept revenues for airlines comfortable,” the official said on condition of anonymity.76433504While some airlines are not keen on starting more flights, IndiGo has said that it wants to operate half of its daily capacity by next month.IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta told ET recently that the airline wants to operate half of its total daily capacity of 1,500 flights in July and resume international operations, possibly to the Gulf, by next month.Other airlines are, however, cautiously adding flights, as they are not sure about the growth in passenger numbers due to the increasing coronavirus cases in the country.“We do not see flights between major citiess growing too much because the business traffic continues to elude airlines. However, airlines may add flights to newer destinations, which are not connected yet, and that might bring some increase in passenger numbers,” said an industry insider.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2UWLFI5