[RahulNagaraj]

There will be no capacity restrictions on scheduled domestic flights from October 18, the civil aviation ministry said in an official release on Tuesday.

Capacity cap does not refer to how many seats on a flight can be occupied by passengers. It indicates up to how many flights an airline can operate from its schedule in percentage terms. There were never any pandemic-time restrictions on filling a plane as the move to keep middle seats vacant did not take off almost anywhere during the pandemic.

Airlines will be allowed to not just return to pre-pandemic levels but go beyong that as well depending on demand. This means that from winter schedule -- that comes into effect from end of next month -- airlines can have a full complement of domestic flights.

However, apart from strictly following Covid protocols, a few other restrictions will continue to be applicable on domestic flights.

"After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel... it has been decided to restore scheduled domestic air operations with effect from October 18, 2021, without any capacity restriction," the govt said in the official notification.

"The airlines/airport operators shall, however, ensure that the guidelines to contain the spread of Covid are strictly adhered to and Covid appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced by them during the travel," the circular added.

Source: TOI

[Rajeevraj]

I flew yesterday after a long gap and one thing is clear. There is nothing called 'Covid appropriate behavior' any more. Huge crowds at Bangalore Airport- The line to get into the terminal itself snaked across 5-6 lines. The people in the lines, whether to get into the terminal, to check in or in security are packed close to each other, you need to lower mask at least 3 times to identify yourself and of course with the eateries packed, obviously no mask use there. No one is controlling the number of people in the buses to the airplane also.

In short- 'Covid appropriate behavior' is a joke. Just a nice phrase everyone uses. One can only hope that the covid pandemic is now dying out and all this will not cause it to come back for a third wave with a vengeance

[Porcupine]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I flew yesterday after a long gap and one thing is clear. There is nothing called 'Covid appropriate behavior' any more.

I absolutely agree with you. If anything it's worse than it used to be before for some reason, as some of the protocols such as checking the additional Covid documentation, etc. takes longer and leads to a larger crowd and longer lines with absolutely no 'social distancing'. I was in Goa recently and was in the security check line for over thirty minutes. For those familiar with the terminal, the line had snaked its way all the way to the escalators.

Also the title of this thread is a bit misleading, only the flight capacity rules have changed not the actual "Covid appropriate behaviour' rules such as mandatory wearing of masks and other things.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

In short- 'Covid appropriate behavior' is a joke. Just a nice phrase everyone uses. One can only hope that the covid pandemic is now dying out and all this will not cause it to come back for a third wave with a vengeance

Just to add to that, the PPE kits issued to the middle seat passenger has been stopped completely by the airlines, they are given only on request. However on one instance when I asked them the PPE kit, I was told they were exhausted. Even the documentation part is not being checked with integrity like the RT PCR reports, Double vaccination certificates etc. Makes me feel that people do it diligently only to realize that they wasted money on the tests.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

In short- 'Covid appropriate behavior' is a joke. Just a nice phrase everyone uses. One can only hope that the covid pandemic is now dying out and all this will not cause it to come back for a third wave with a vengeance

Off topic:
I took my mom for a check up at a big hospital yesterday and I came to the same conclusion. I observed the same thing at a smaller hospital about 6 months ago and felt that they were flouting rules and were probably an exception, at the time.

My guess is that the government will announce all types of rules for covid safety, but they themselves will not follow it. When it comes to harassing citizens, they will use the same rules and collect their hafta. Same with organizations - the AC is switched off everywhere and similarly the Metro will run at reduced frequency and they will even shut some stations claiming "covid", when it comes to charging us extra, again it will be "covid". But zero problems in overcrowding the same space and packing public transport. Also, important to remember that the government will not get any revenue if they clamp down on all activities.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by mvadg

My guess is that the government will announce all types of rules for covid safety, but they themselves will not follow it. When it comes to harassing citizens, they will use the same rules and collect their hafta. Same with organizations...

That has been the case right from the start of covid way back in March 2020. Anyone with any form of authority- from the Central Government to the dinky authority of the RWA uncle, to family members harassing maids- they will enforce any rule they think will "control covid" in their sphere of influence (however unscientific it is) when it comes to regulating other people's behavior, but will flout scientific norms when it comes to anything that THEY really want to do or deem "essential". Right from the start this has been observed and will continue. (And certainly those inconsistencies will be demonstrated by each of us as well. So personally, I'm not going to point out "covid behavior lapses" in others and virtue signal- I take my mask off at restaurants indoors to eat as well!)

Anyway as far as flights and other public spaces go, the time has come to accept that no one is going to follow "covid appropriate behavior" (whatever that meant in the first place in a densely populated country like ours!) anymore. It's up to each one of us to decide what risk we're willing to take (it always was anyway!).

Personally, I'm happy to begin living normally again! And have been embracing it fully the past month post my second dose. One thing that has probably changed for me as far as flights go is I'll probably be taking fewer domestic flights in the future. Not because of covid, but my job has become remote and most of the places I used to fly to have decent connectivity now. So I'd probably drive to those destinations and spend more time there, working out of those places in the future.

[karanddd]

Originally Posted by am1m

That has been the case right from the start of covid way back in March 2020. Anyone with any form of authority- from the Central Government to the dinky authority of the RWA uncle, to family members harassing maids- they will enforce any rule they think will "control covid" in their sphere of influence (however unscientific it is) when it comes to regulating other people's behavior, but will flout scientific norms when it comes to anything that THEY really want to do or deem "essential". Right from the start this has been observed and will continue. (And certainly those inconsistencies will be demonstrated by each of us as well. So personally, I'm not going to point out "covid behavior lapses" in others and virtue signal- I take my mask off at restaurants indoors to eat as well!)

Well said. I got fined Rs. 2000 in Delhi by a policeman for lowering my mask to drink tea fifteen steps from a tea shop. Yet every day I see dozens of policemen walk around without any masks. Around where I live, many drivers have been forced to take out loans to buy motorcycles because their masters and mistresses cannot have them taking the bus or metro, only to have those very drivers drive them to the mall or bar or airport. And to add insult to injury, they'll lecture at the society guard or gardener to keep his mask up all day, with no consideration of the fact that these guys do not have the luxury of WFH, nor of owning their own shop or business where they can do as they please. The middle classes can work from home or from a cubicle in an office or a cafe where they can take off their masks and take it easy, but heaven forbid the guy who's sitting out in the sun all day do the same thing.

[Aravind_M92]

I don't know what to say on this! Haven't the flights been running at more than full capacities since long back! I travelled from Delhi to Chennai and continued till Madurai on Air India about a month back. The A321 and A320 neo booked beyond capacity and passengers were literally squeezed in. Same was with other airlines as well. I usually take the early morning flights as they're usually crowded. I was partly blaming on the groundings due to engine spares availability, but it was the travel rush. Flights are full even on weekdays on major sectors!

Earlier, in economy class, the middle passengers were given PPE kits and now that is gone too!
And most of us do suffer from 'Pre Mature Evacuation Syndrome'. We do have the itch to stand up, open the overhead bin and grab the cabin baggage and stick up with other passengers as soon as the aircraft comes to a halt. Let alone COVID, I still wonder how much more can we contract from this!

[mazda4life]

I am onboard the indigo flight to Mangalore from Bangalore and the flight is full ... traveling with my father who is a senior citizen and the staff has been super courteous and absolutely great with all this rush.

[kkunal.shah]

Have been taking 4-6 domestic flights a month since Nov 2020 & would say that the so called covid appropriate behaviour has been degrading each month, for last two months flights have been jam packed & as mentioned by others airlines no longer offer any PPE.
At Smaller airports passengers roam without masks & no one says anything.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by Aravind_M92

I don't know what to say on this! Haven't the flights been running at more than full capacities since long back! I travelled from Delhi to Chennai and continued till Madurai on Air India about a month back. The A321 and A320 neo booked beyond capacity and passengers were literally squeezed in. Same was with other airlines as well. I usually take the early morning flights as they're usually crowded. I was partly blaming on the groundings due to engine spares availability, but it was the travel rush. Flights are full even on weekdays on major sectors!

The news isn't about allowing 100% occupancy in an aircraft - they always were allowed to do that. The news is about airlines being allowed to operate 100% of their capacity. There was a cap of 85% cap earlier - that is, airlines could operate only upto 85% of their published schedule (airlines file their schedules with DGCA twice a year - what is called the Winter Schedule and the Summer Schedule). This cap was kept to ensure the departures were spaced and airports didn't get crowded (both of which didn't really happen since airports used this time for maintenance, thereby causing most departures to happen during narrow windows).

[lina]

Originally Posted by kkunal.shah

Have been taking 4-6 domestic flights a month since Nov 2020 & would say that the so called covid appropriate behaviour has been degrading each month, for last two months flights have been jam packed & as mentioned by others airlines no longer offer any PPE.
At Smaller airports passengers roam without masks & no one says anything.

Honestly, apart from adding to the covid plastic mountain, I highly doubt wearing PPE inside an aircraft is going to help you in any way. Wear a good mask and a face shield, and dont eat food/drink water (as that would require mask lowering). This should be more than enough.

[amods]

Originally Posted by binaiks

The news isn't about allowing 100% occupancy in an aircraft - they always were allowed to do that. The news is about airlines being allowed to operate 100% of their capacity. There was a cap of 85% cap earlier - that is, airlines could operate only upto 85% of their published schedule (airlines file their schedules with DGCA twice a year - what is called the Winter Schedule and the Summer Schedule).

Absolutely, it is never about filling percentage of seats in an aircraft. Running an airline is a business - which will only work if they are utilizing their assets and fleet to maximum.

I would say it was about time it was allowed - it will help airlines to cut their losses, cut the job losses in aviation sector, I don't have the data but it may help reduce vehicles from roads and reduce burdens on trains.

[TKMCE]

While capacity caps have been removed, to my knowledge the "minimum fare" which was put in place has not been moved.

No guesses who is happy!


https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...an-air-ticket/