DGCA extends domestic flight ban in India till 14 April amid country lockdown

After all the international flights were banned till 14 April following India lockdown amid COVID 19 outbreak, now Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), aviation regulator, has decided to ban all the domestic flight operations till the same period. The decision was taken by the aviation body on Friday due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Before this, the ban on domestic flight was only till 31 March, but now it has been extended to the full lockdown duration. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), "All domestic operators engaged in scheduled, non-scheduled and private aircraft operations in India shall ensure strict compliance of the order." The memo was signed by Deputy Director General Sunil Kumar.
So now for the next 17 days, there won’t be any kind of air travel in the country. The decision to lockdown the country was taken after the COVID 19 positive cases increased in India at a drastic rate.

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— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) March 27, 2020

Before the DGCA made the announcement, GoAir and Air India had already announced that their domestic flight operations will remain suspended till 14 April, 2020 and will only start functioning after the situation improves

Meanwhile GoAir to help customers has said, “Our ‘Protect your PNR’ scheme allows customers to reschedule their travel for 1 year from the date of their original booking”. As per the new scheme, customers who had their flight tickets scheduled between March 26, 2020 and April 14, 2020, can reschedule their flights up to April 15, 2021, with the same PNR.

#GoAlert pic.twitter.com/MNkgVmWhg7

— GoAir (@goairlinesindia) March 25, 2020

Besides, other domestic private airlines like IndiGo and Spicejet too have joined the team and are supporting the government's lockdown decision. IndiGo has offered its services for ferrying supply of medicines, equipment and relief material across India in the time of crisis.

IndiGo CEO wrote to the Minister of State for Civil Aviation and said “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.”

According to the recent update from the Health Ministry, the virus has already claimed 19 lives while the total number of has gone up to 908. Talking on a global scale, the total number of infected people has spiked to 607,310 and the number of casualties has reached 27,677.