Following the suspension of all international flights till April 14, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday extended the ban on domestic flights operations across India during the same period due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, the ban was only till March 31, which has now been extended to the full lockdown period till April 14.
"All domestic operators engaged in scheduled, non-scheduled and private aircraft operations in India shall ensure strict compliance of the order," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a memo signed by Deputy Director General Sunil Kumar on Friday.
With this, most long-distance passenger travels in the entire country will come to a halt at least for the next 18 days. The lockdown has been necessitated on account of widespread rise in coronavirus infection cases across India.
As per the last update from the Health Ministry, the death toll in India stood at 17 while 66 patients have recovered. The total number of cases also rose to 724. Globally, the casualties have spiked to 24,057 and the number of cases crossed 5 lakhs.
Earlier in the day, ahead of the DGCA announcement, GoAir and Air India had announced that their domestic flight operations will continue to be suspended till April 14. As soon as the situation improves and the government revokes the lockdown, GoAir will start operating its network to the fullest extent, it said.
At the same time, GoAir has offered protection to its customers in the event of a no-show. “Our ‘Protect your PNR’ scheme allows customers to reschedule their travel for 1 year from the date of their original booking,” it said. As per the scheme, the airlines will protect all the PNRs for customers who were booked to travel between March 26, 2020 and April 14, 2020, wherein customers can reschedule their flights up to April 15, 2021, using the same PNR.
Customers can redeem tickets booked between March 1, 2020, and April 15, 2020 2020 on any GoAir flight on any date between April 15, 2020 and April 15, 2021 with no charges being levied, fare difference however, may be applicable.
Meanwhile, the Wadia Group, which owns GoAir, has written to civil aviation ministry and sector watchdog DGCA, offering its grounded aircraft fleet, cockpit and cabin crew, and airport staff for carrying out emergency services and repatriation of citizens.
"GoAir airline is fully supportive of the initiatives announced by the prime minister. With our state-of-the-art fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft, GoAir is on stand-by for any flight that the government may want us to fly," GoAir Managing Director Jeh Wadia said.
Not just GoAir, other private airlines such as IndiGo and Spicejet have also come forward to support and aid the government’s mitigation efforts in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
IndiGo has said it has offered its services for ferrying supply of medicines, equipment and relief material across the country. “I know you must be facing major logistical challenges in moving medicine, equipment and relief supplies from one part of the country to another. We at IndiGo would be extremely proud to be associated with this critical life-saving activity at this hour of great need for our nation,” IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta wrote to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri.
SpiceJet's fleet of five freighters are also flying across the country daily and flying to nearby countries including to those in the Middle-East, South-East Asia, among other places with fresh fruits and vegetables, cold chain medical supplies, medicines, medical devices for various state governments, medical and pharma companies, international retailers and farmer bodies.
