Get ready to pay double for flight tickets

We have seen Lockdown 1.0, 2.0 and now 3.0 with restrictions going lesser with each. However, the magnitude of restrictions matter still. We might even see lockdown 5.0 in the near future, but the good news is, India will start its commercial flights soon, irrespective of lockdown versions. As we know, the pandemic has really caused stress to the Indian aviation industry and it faced a lot of depression.

With almost 40 days of no-operation and no commercial flight functioning, the industry is hopeful to open soon so that people are able to travel. But, one must remember that flying will not be normal for a few months, at least until the vaccine is found for the COVID-19. With severe rules and regulations, one has to travel on air.

Apart from hygiene, sanitizing, and social distancing, the discussions are on to stop bookings for the middle row seats in domestic flights. Doing so will be helpful to maintain the intended feet gap between passengers. Also, the last three rows should be kept vacant so that if a passenger needs to be quarantined mid-flight, it would be of use.

If all these are applied, the air carriers will certainly face an economic burden. Therefore, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation India (CAPA India) comes up with a point that passengers who are on board will have to shell out extra money to compensate for empty seats in flights.

According to social distancing norms, a 180-seat aircraft flight sell a maximum of 108 seats. That mean, the prices will double and for example, Delhi-Mumbai one side fare will increase from Rs 5,000 to a maximum of Rs 9,700. And, the price on Delhi-Bengaluru route will increase from Rs 5,700 to Rs 11,200.