Airlines in India are geared up to take to the skies from April 15, but are awaiting clarity from the government on the matter.
A senior official from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation told CNBC-TV18, "We have not issued any green signal to airlines for flights resumption. We will inform them when such a call is taken."
While all airlines -- except Air India -- are accepting bookings for travel from April 15, they are unsure whether or not the booked flights will take off as per schedule.
"All primary preparations are in place. We have implemented all social distancing norms across our transit coaches, boarding stairs. We are not looking at resuming our entire network in one go, but we are ready to resume a small part of our network. However, all depends on what the government decides to do regarding air travel post April 15. We continue to seek clarity on that from the government," a senior official at a low-cost carrier said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 10 am on April 14 and stakeholders from the aviation sector will want to get clarity on passenger flight operations.
Domestic flights in India were suspended on March 25 following concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus. International flights were suspended on March 23. This has led to grounding of over 650 planes in the country.
Meanwhile, IndiGo and SpiceJet have prepared coaches and boarding stairs in line with social distancing norms, but none of the airlines are able to confirm the status of the flight as of now.
A view of passenger seating in transfer coaches of SpiceJet
Maintaining social distancing norms while boarding flights
IndiGo, the largest domestic carrier has told customers that while they are ready to resume operations, the airline was awaiting an approval from authorities. Air India, which shut its booking window on April 3 until April 30, has informed customers that currently its operations are suspended.
On being questioned by customers on Twitter, airlines like Vistara and GoAir requested them to check the airlines’ websites for updates, indicating a hint of uncertainty.
On the other hand, low-cost carrier SpiceJet informed passengers that their flights are on schedule, but with a caveat that in case of any change, passengers will be notified via SMS or mail on the registered details.
The crisis is so unprecedented that Indian carriers have not refunded booking amounts so as to maintain cash flow and are only providing credit shell equivalent to the booking fare, which customers can use for booking flights later on.
As of Feb 2020, IndiGo was the largest domestic player with 48 percent market share, followed by SpiceJet at 15.3 percent, Air India at 12 percent, GoAir at 10 percent, AirAsia India at 7.3 percent and Vistara at 6.7 percent.
As of April 13, India has confirmed 9,352 positive coronavirus cases. India reported its first case on January 30.
First Published: Apr 13, 2020 7:23 PM IST
