Air India opens bookings on select domestic routes from May 4, international from June 1

IN WHAT could be an indication of a potential lifting of the ongoing countrywide lockdown, state-owned Air India announced on Saturday that it has opened bookings for some domestic flights from May 4 and certain international flights for travel June 1 onwards.

Other domestic airlines including IndiGo have also opened bookings for certain sectors. For international flights, government officials had said that the permissions for international passenger flights will be given to airlines after assessing the Covid-19-related situation of the respective country.

Earlier, Air India had said that passengers who had booked tickets for the travel period between March 23 and April 30 need not cancel their tickets as they would automatically get credit vouchers for future travel.

India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of novel coronavirus. The first phase of the lockdown was from March 25 to April 14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 extended the lockdown till May 3.

All domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended during the lockdown period.

“In the light of the ongoing global health concerns, we have currently stopped accepting bookings on all domestic flights for travel till May 3, 2020, and on all international flights for travel till May 31, 2020,” a notification on Air India’s website said on Saturday.

“Bookings for select domestic flights for travel from May 4, 2020, and for international flights for travel from June 1, 2020, onwards are open,” it said.