Not in favour to keep middle seat on plane empty: Aviation minister Hardeep Puri

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri has said he is not in the favour of leaving the middle seat of planes empty to avoid Covid-19 spread as it will lead to price hike in air tickets.

“It’s not viable to keep the middle seat vacant. Even if you keep the middle seat vacant you will still have a situation where prescribed distance for social distancing isn’t followed. If you were to do it then you have to hike up airline ticket price by 33 per cent,” Hardeep Puri said. However, masks and Aarogya Setu app will be compulsory for air travel.

His statement shortly after he announced that domestic travel in India will resume from May 25 in a “calibrated manner”. “All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25,” he added.

“Domestic flights will commence from 25th May, initially, only a small percentage of the total number of domestic flights will be operated. Then depending on the experience we gain, we will increase the number of flights,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.

Even as the minister announced that the standard operating procedure for domestic air travel will be announced soon, he said that the preparations have been made for operations. “I think Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) should not be made so onerous that they are difficult to be followed. We’ve now reached a happy balance and SOPs will be announced soon. Those will be the norms for some time,” he said.

Hardeep Puri said that the aviation industry’s revenue has been zero for the past two months due the nationwide lockdown. “So, the time has come to open our airports after consultation with states. However, few states are not happy, but we would go gradually. For the country’s economy, mobility is required,” Hardeep Puri said.