New Delhi. Aviation regulator DGCA on Sunday told airlines to stop booking flights. Actually private Indian airlines were engaged in booking of flights from May 4. They said that they will not stop booking until they get a written order from the aviation ministry. This is the reason why the aviation regulator DGCA has had to strictly say that airlines should stop booking.
Air India announced on Saturday that it has decided to start booking on select domestic and international routes from May 4 and June 1 respectively. Hardeep Singh Puri advised airlines bookings open only after the government has decided to start domestic and international commercial passenger flight service. He said very clearly that airlines are advised to open the booking only after the government has decided in this regard.
Despite being asked to start booking from May 4, despite the aviation minister’s tweet, on Sunday, Vistara and Air Asia India said that they had not received any written order from the government about not booking so far. In this connection, we will wait for the Ministry’s notice. We have closed flights and bookings till May 3 but are accepting bookings for dates from May 4 and onwards. The airline said that the situation will be clarified by the Ministry, we will stop the booking.
However, Air India has stopped its booking for all flights. An Air India official said that the passengers who have kept the ticket will get a credit voucher for future travel. Earlier, many passengers had complained to the government through social media that Indian airlines were forcing them to travel at a later date instead of giving refunds for canceled flights. On this, the aviation ministry had on 16 April directed the airlines to refund the entire amount of all bookings made during the two-phase lockdown from 25 April to 3 May to the passengers seeking refund without deducting the cancellation charge.
