Centre allows airlines to fly 60 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights

The government of India on Wednesday allowed Indian airlines to increase the number of domestic passenger flights to 60 per cent of their pre-COVID services.

The average occupancy rate in domestic flights since their resumption in India on May 25 has been around 50-60 per cent only.

Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in the country since March 23 due to the pandemic.

However, special international flights have been operating under Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble pacts signed with various countries since July.

Meanwhile, India's coronavirus tally inched closer to 38 lakh mark with single-day spike of 78,357 new positive cases and 1,045 deaths in the past 24 hours.

With the latest spike, the total COVID-19 cases in India has surged to 37,69,524. Of the total cases, 8,01,282 are active cases while 29,01,909 have been cured and discharged from hospitals.

(With inputs from agencies)