Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said the future of international flights is now depending on the availability of a vaccine. Answering a question on whether travel bubble arrangements will continue till March-April, the minister said, “It is difficult to say as there is no country which has completely opened its borders for all. It depends on the availability of a vaccine as countries will feel more confident once a vaccine is there.”Air bubbles are specific arrangements between countries to allow airlines of both the countries to carry passengers. Regular international passenger flight services have been suspended till October 31. The minister hinted that this suspension is likely to be in place till March-April.
Domestic airlines will soon be allowed to increase their capacity to 75 per cent. At present, they are operating at 65 per cent capacity, after domestic flights resumed operations on May 25 — following a gap of two months of lockdown. “There is no deadline. But this can happen soon as the domestic numbers are going up. Before this I said that the pre-covid domestic number will be achieved between Diwali and New Year. Now I am confident that by the first quarter next year.