NEW DELHI: Private airlines have opened bookings for their flights from June onwards for domestic operations.
Airfares for initial few days in June on busy routes like Delhi-Mumbai and others have gone up expecting huge demand.
While the lockdown has been extended till May 31, the aviation regulator has said all commercial operations will remain suspended till the day.
Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri on Tuesday evening said, "It is not upto @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."
A look at air travel aggregator websites showed that low-cost airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir and Air Asia have started taking bookings for domestic flights.
It was shown that people were willing to book tickets as the air-fares were nearly Rs 1000 higher for first two-three days.
Commercial operation of the airlines is under suspension and aviation is among the worst-affected sectors amidst the COVID-19 crisis.
Earlier, airlines were expecting that domestic flight services would resume after the end of the third phase of lockdown.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation had issued draft SOP to all aviation stakeholders. It had listed a few precautionary measures for flyers like mandatory Aarogya Setu app, face masks, no cabin baggage.
However on Sunday, soon after the Centre announced extension of the lockdown, the DGCA issued a statement and said, "All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended till May 31 midnight."