Covid-19 lockdown indecision: To sell or not to sell air and train tickets?

Lack of circular sends airline dept in a tizzy; Railways yet to take decision on resuming passenger services

The uncertainty over extending the 21-day lockdown, supposed to end on April 14, seems to be creating confusion among policymakers in the railways and aviation.

Officials in the civil aviation ministry said while there was little chance that air transport would be allowed to resume on April 15, lack of an official circular kept the commercial departments of airlines in a tizzy. The result is that all airlines except Air India are still selling tickets for flights from April 15.

“The government should be more proactive regarding such decisions. If we don’t book tickets anticipating a ban we will lose out on