In a fast move announced less than 48 hours ago, India had done a U-turn on its civil aviation ban from May 25 onwards, removing it just three days after saying it was going to continue for another 15 days. Yesterday was an action-packed day for the aviation industry, as everyone first heard about the new protocols for flying around India, and then heard about the fact that their pricing and schedules would be controlled. The Government machinery only late evening got out the price bands under which flights can be sold.

A first thing to know, airlines won’t be operating all their flights at the moment. They are only allowed to fly up to 1/3rd of their approved schedule for Summer 2020 initially, with a promise that government will look into increasing their schedules once they are able to stabilise this level of flying. Summer 2020 Schedule is the one valid from March 29 through October 25, 2020. Here are the flights approved as of late last night by the DGCA. The logic is:

• 1/3rd of approved schedule for Metro – Metro flights
• 1/3 of approved schedule for Metro – Non-Metro flights (more than 100 weekly departures)
• Any flights to a cap of 1/3 of approved schedule for Metro – Non-Metro flights (less than 100 weekly departures) and other cities

Also, gone are the days of cheap flights. Because the government is suspicious of airlines to profiteer from this situation (totally ignoring the fact that they’ve been paying their bills for two months without any income), they have been asked to put a price band on the tickets. More on that in another post, but to use the Minister’s example, a BOM-DEL will be at INR 3,500 minimum and INR 10,000 at the maximum.

Now, overnight, the flights are up for booking, and you will be able to book your flights directly with the airline or via OTAs. The following airlines have opened bookings for tickets, and you should be able to use your credit shells if you have one.

• AirAsia India: flights launch from May 25. Book Here.
• IndiGo: flights launch from May 25. Book Here
• SpiceJet: flights launch from May 25. Book Here
• GoAir: flights launch from June 1. Book Here
• Vistara: flights launch from May 25. Book Here
• Air India: flights launch from May 25. Book Here
• TruJet: flights launch from May 25. Book Here
• StarAir: flights launch from May 25. Book Here

If you want to do comparison shopping, head over to the clear interface of Cleartrip. 

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