IndiGo to resume flight operations in phased manner starting May 4

IndiGo on Tuesday said it will resume flight services from May 4 in a phased manner after the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation further suspended operations in the wake of the extended nationwide lockdown. 

The airline's statement comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended the nationwide lockdown till May 3. 

"Initially, starting with a slightly curtailed capacity, the airline will increase the operating capacity over the subsequent months, also reopening selected international flights, depending on the existing international travel guidelines," the airline said in its press release. "In its endeavour to reconnect critical air corridors post the lockdown, IndiGo, India's leading airline will resume flight operations from May 4, 2020," it added. 

Domestic and international commercial passenger flights were earlier suspended from March 25 to April 14. "All domestic and international scheduled airline operations shall remain suspended till 11.59 pm of 3rd May 2020," the ministry tweeted. 

There were speculations over the opening of flights to limited countries based on situation assessment, however, the decision confirms that the government is not taking any chances going forward. Resumption of international flights will be considered on a case-by-case basis after India's lockdown ends and will depend on which countries the flights are coming from, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said last week.

Indian aviation saw a negative growth of 3-5 per cent in the last fiscal—hurting before the coronavirus pandemic and now hurting because of the disease, said rating agency Icra on Thursday. The Icra report pointed out that traffic slowed even before the coronavirus outbreak due to multiple reasons, including the closure of debt-laden Jet Airways.